en guests instead of
prisoners.

Seeing a boy standing near the door and watching us, with his eyes and
mouth wide open, I went up to him and asked if he could not go out and
get us some buttermilk. He grinned and disappeared like a shot,
returning shortly with a quantity of the desired article, and it was
keenly relished. Having full stomachs and comfortable quarters, we were
all in good humor and laughed and joked with our friends until late at
night.

The town was a hard place, and shooting scrapes and rows were numerous,
but they were regarded as a matter of course, while our coming was a
novelty; so our stay was a source of interest and entertainment to the
people, while a matter of good living and comfort to ourselves. Boston
was then the county-seat of Union county, but the name did not suit the
people, and the title of the county was changed to Davis.

Late at night we retired, making our beds on the soft sides of several
bundles of sole leather which were stored in the room, and slept soundly
until we were called for breakfast by the guards. This was the first
decent sleep we had had since our escape, and we could not have put in
our time to better advantage had our resting places been feather beds.

Our breakfast was plentiful and substantial, although plain. The
citizens began to gather around before we got started with our meal,
and, when we sat down to eat, the room was filled with a curious crowd.
Just as we began to eat, the enrolling officer, Captain Payne, came in
to see us. He was a typical Southerner, of the long, lean, affable and
insincere species, and he approached us with great dignity, rubbing his
hands and smiling blandly, exclaiming in an unctuous tone:

"Good morning, gentlemen. I hope your breakfast is satisfactory. What!
dry bread! Really, gentlemen, if I had known this before I left my house
I would have brought you some molasses. Sorry; very sorry."

Now, molasses was a rare luxury in those days in that section of the
country, and I sized the man up in an instant as a smooth liar, who said
what he did partly to aggravate us and partly for effect; so I promptly
arose and replied, with a bow:

"Captain, your courtesy is overwhelming. This breakfast stands
adjourned until you can send one of these niggers to your house for that
molasses."

He turned all colors of the rainbow, and several smothered laughs were
heard in the crowd, but he could not well back down, and so we had
molasse