r old lady's face, as,
with tears in her eyes, she bade me "Godspeed."

By the time our march was resumed we had become very familiar with our
guards, and, in fact, it was more of a picnic excursion than a march of
guards with their prisoners.

Each of us slept at night with one of the soldiers, and we went on
several midnight expeditions in company. One night we raided a farmhouse
and stole a sack of sweet potatoes, sitting up half the night to roast
them. Another night we confiscated a beehive and secured some delicious
honey. We were continually playing jokes upon each other, and all hands
were sorry when the time came to separate.

We fooled along, taking things very easily, and finally reached Camp
Ford about thirty days after leaving Boston.

Our reception by the boys in the stockade was characteristic of men
continually seeking to find something to do which would serve to kill
time and prevent despondency.

When we were marched up to the gates we were recognized by many in the
enclosure, and were hailed by shouts, jeers, sarcastic questionings and
all sorts of welcomes.

"How are things up North? How did you leave the folks? Got any mail?
Can't you stay awhile?" and many other similar queries were fairly
showered upon us.

When we finally entered the enclosure the crowd was drawn up in line,
like a lot of hackmen in front of a railroad station in a large city,
and, amid much laughter and many jokes, we were hailed with:

"This way to the Palace Hotel!" "Have a cab?" "Cab or carriage, gents?"
"_This_ way, gents, to the Ebbitt House, the best in the city!"

Our own men gathered about us, and soon dragged us off to our old
quarters, where we were plied with question after question, and had to
relate all our experiences in detail.

We now took up the stockade life once more, and there was but little
variation in its routine.

CHAPTER XIII.

INCIDENTS, AND ANOTHER ESCAPE.

I soon became a stockholder in a tunnel enterprise which was prosecuted
vigorously and gave many hopes of success. We started the tunnel inside
of an old cabin, using various expedients to conceal the work and get
rid of the dirt, all of which were successful. A survey was made to
locate the exit in a clump of bushes quite a distance from the stockade,
and all was ready for the final move. Quite a number of men were taken
into the scheme, and the greatest danger of discovery, that of being
"peached" upon by someone on the in