with serviceable shoes, and taking our worn-out ones in
return. At last everything being in readiness, we again waited for the
signal. Those in our room were to remain quiet till it was given, and
then burst off the door, which was a light one, and rush on the guard.
We took a board that supported the water-bucket, and four of us,
holding it as a battering-ram, did not doubt our ability to dash the
door into the middle of the large room, and seize the guard before he
could make up his mind as to the nature of the assault.

The other small rooms were soon vacated, the movement being concealed
from the observation of the guard, by the inmates of the large room,
into which all the others opened, standing up around the doors.

For an instant all was silence. We lifted up our hearts in prayer to
God, that He would be with us, and preserve us through the coming
strife, and if consistent with His high will, permit us to regain our
liberty.

What can cause the delay? Minute after minute passes, and the dead
silence is only broken by the throbbing of our own hearts. We stand
with the board ready, and our spirits eager for the coming contest,
which shall lead us to grapple, with naked arms, the shining bayonets
of the guards. We do not doubt the issue, for the hope of liberty
inspires us.

But now we see our friends creeping _back to their rooms_! We grind
our teeth with rage and chagrin, but soon hear the explanation, which
makes us think that the Lord is indeed watching over us.

Just as our leader was ready to give the signal, a friend pressed to
his side, and informed him that we were betrayed, and that an extra
guard of over eighty men was drawn up in line before the door, with
orders to shoot down every one that issued from it, while still
another detachment was ready to close in behind, and make an
indiscriminate massacre. Had we attempted to carry out our plan, the
guard would have yielded before us until we were drawn into the trap,
and then they hoped to make such a slaughter as would be a perpetual
warning to prison-breakers.

When I first heard this story, I thought it the invention of some
weak-nerved individual who feared the trial and the danger of our
scheme. But it was true. The next day the Richmond papers contained a
full _expose_ of the whole affair, and Captain Alexander, the tyrant
who commanded the prison, threatened to have every one engaged in it
tied up and whipped. But he finally concluded not t