the attention of the guard, one man at
the head would slip into the oven, and the man next to him would take up
his pail, and his absence would not be noticed, as they never counted us
on these occasions. When darkness came on, those who had thus escaped
would quietly cross the river and walk away.

To prevent them missing the absent, a hole was cut through the floor of
the upper room, and as soon as the Sergeant was through counting those on
the lower floor, a number corresponding to those who had escaped, would be
shoved up through this hole to be counted again on the upper floor; thus
keeping our count all right. A crowd would always be around the hole up
stairs, so that the Sergeant upon going up would not see what was going
on.

One fellow had his blanket spread over this hole, and would be lying down
there when the guard reached the room, so that it would have a natural
appearance, and would not attract any more attention than any other part
of the room. In this way some six or seven made their escape, and the
count was kept all right, by sending a corresponding number up through the
hole in the floor, and they were not missed for two or three weeks. In
fact the only reason we had to believe that they had been missed at all
was, that one day the reb Sergeant brought up his guard and counted us
over a second time, and after figuring up the count, counted us over
again, and seemed to still be unsatisfied, and repeated the count seven or
eight times. Every time the count came out all right, which seemed to
puzzle and perplex him terribly. He could not understand how it could be,
that he still had his full number of prisoners, while he seemed to have
positive evidence that half a dozen had escaped. His information was that
several had escaped, but his figures told him that we were all there.

Every time he counted us and found us all present, his perplexity
increased; for he seemed to have proven the falsity of the old saying,
"that figures can't lie." He finally concluded to fall us in on both
floors at once, and then he found he was short six or seven prisoners.
This seemed to puzzle him worse than ever, and I don't believe he has up
to this day found out, just how the thing was done. He certainly had not
at the time we left Danville. After this there was no effort made to have
the count overrun, and the use of that hole in the floor was abandoned.

All the time the different counts were going on, the officers, wh