ery night in the yard, would be driven by the rain into their
kennels, which were situated on the other side of the yard from that
where they would emerge. Two or three days before the effort was made,
General Morgan received a letter from an Irishwoman in Kentucky, warning
him not to attempt to make his escape, from which, she predicted, great
evils to him would result. She alluded to his kindness to the poor in
Lexington, and claimed that she was informed of the future in some
supernatural manner.

On the 26th of November, General Morgan learned that there had been a
change of military commandants at Columbus. Well knowing that this would
be followed by an inspection of the prison and a discovery of the plot,
he determined that the effort should be made that very night. His own
cell was in the second range, from which it was impossible to reach the
air-chamber and tunnel, but the cell of his brother, Colonel Richard
Morgan, had been prepared for him, and when Scott tapped, as usual, on
the stove, as a signal for each man to retire to his cell, the exchange
was effected. There was a sufficient resemblance between them to deceive
a man who would not look closely--especially when they were seated with
their faces turned away from the door.

At any rate, Scott and the night-guard, were both deceived, and efforts
were made by the occupants of the cells near to both of those, where
close inspection would have been dangerous, to attract to themselves the
attention of the guard when he went the rounds. As it was especially
necessary, on this occasion, to know certainly when the night-guard
approached, small bits of coal had been sprinkled, just before the hour
for locking up on the floor of the first range, so that (tread as
lightly as he would), the slinking cur could not help making loud noise.

It had been arranged that, just after the twelve o'clock visit from the
guard, Captain Taylor should descend into the air-chamber and give the
signal underneath the floor of each cell. Fortunately, the only man who
was vile enough to have betrayed the plan, was absent in the hospital.
Six hours elapsed after the locking-in; regularly during that time the
night-guard went his rounds, making an awful crackling as he passed
along the lower range. Sixty-odd men lay awake, silent and excited--with
hearts beating louder and blood rushing faster through their veins than
the approach of battle had ever occasioned. Perhaps the coolest of al