d plan of
escape, on which now depended their leader's only chance of life.

He was separated from them, and put down into the dungeon. But this
did not interfere with their plans, for with the same knife which was
so serviceable in making keys, a hole was cut above the bolts of the
trap-door, allowing it to be raised. This done, which was late at
night, they drew Andrews up by blankets, and then went to work cutting
another hole through the ceiling. While they were performing the most
noisy part of this operation, they deadened the sound by singing. The
jailor afterward remarked that he might have known there was something
the matter by their singing so mournfully.

When all their preparations were completed, the gray tint of dawn was
just beginning to rise in the east. There was no time to lose. Andrews
quickly mounted aloft. A rope was formed of some twisted blankets, and
the next moment he was swinging outside of the wall. But in passing
through the hole he loosened some bricks which fell to the ground, and
thus gave the alarm. The accident caused him to drop his boots, which
he afterward sorely needed.

The guard was instantly aroused, but Andrews dropped to the ground,
darted to the fence, and was over before he could be prevented. John
Wollam followed, and even while suspended in the air by the blankets,
was fired upon. Fortunately, the hands of the guards were too unsteady
to inflict any injury, and he, too, succeeded in getting out of the
yard in safety.

Now the excitement became intense. All Chattanooga was roused, and the
whole force started in pursuit of the flying fugitives. The officers
hurried to the prison and roundly berated our boys because they did
not give the alarm when their comrades were escaping! Colonel
Claiborne, the Marshal, who had shown us some humanity, was summarily
dismissed from his office for that cause alone! And the press came out
in the most violent language, denouncing the officers in charge, and
particularly General Leadbetter, for their false philanthropy in not
having us chained to the floor in such a manner as to make escape
impossible.

Our flying comrades had separated as soon as they left the prison. It
was now daylight, and they could not continue their flight without
the most imminent danger of discovery. Andrews went only a few hundred
yards from town, and there secreted himself in a tree, in plain view
of the railroad. He remained all day in this uncomfortable posi