strip
of blanket, along which to descend. Our room was immediately over that
of the jailer and his sleeping family, and beneath our opening was a
window, which each man must pass in his descent. At eleven o'clock the
exodus began. The first man was passed through the bars amid a
suppressed buzz of whispered cautions. His boots were handed after him
in a haversack. The rest of us, pressing our faces to the frosty
grating, listened breathlessly for the success of the movement we could
no longer see. Suddenly there was a crash, and in the midst of
mutterings of anger we snatched in the rag ladder and restored the piece
of carpeting to its place outside the bars. Our pioneer had hurt his
hand against the rough stones, and, floundering in mid-air, had dashed
his leg through sash and glass of the window below. We could see nothing
of his further movements, but soon discovered the jailer standing in the
door, looking up and down the street, seemingly in the dark as to where
the crash came from. At last, wearied and worried and disappointed, we
lay down in our blankets upon the hard floor.

[Illustration: GREENVILLE JAIL.]

At daylight we were awakened by the voice of Miss Emma at the hole in
the door. "Who got out last night?" "Welty." "Well, you was fools you
didn't all go; pap wouldn't 'a' stopped you. If you'll keep the break
concealed until night we'll let you all out." The secret of the extreme
kindness of our keepers was explained. The jailer, a loyalist, retained
his position as a civil detail, thus protecting himself and sons from
conscription. Welty had been taken in the night before, his bruises had
been anointed, and he had been provisioned for the journey.

We spent the day repairing our clothing and preparing for the road. My
long-heeled cowhides, "wife's shoes," for which I had exchanged a
uniform waistcoat with a cotton-wooled old darky on the banks of the
Saluda, were about parting soles from uppers, and I kept the twain
together by winding my feet with stout cords. At supper an extra ration
was given us. As soon as it was dark the old jailer appeared among us
and gave us a minute description of the different roads leading west
into the mountains, warning us of certain dangers. At eleven o'clock
Miss Emma came with the great keys, and we followed her, in single file,
down the stairs and out into the back yard of the jail. From the broken
gratings in front, the bit of rope and strip of blanket were left
dang