and the like
d['e]bris, and an abundance of rats.

The cellar reached, and the route to it carefully concealed
by day alike from the prison authorities and the prisoners
not in the secret, the question of the tunnel followed.
There were two possible routes. One of these led southward,
towards the canal; the other eastward, under a narrow
street, on the opposite side of which was a yard and stable,
with a high board fence on the street side. The opposite
side of the yard faced a warehouse.

A tunnel was commenced towards the canal. But it quickly
struck a sewer whose odor was more than the workers could
endure. It was abandoned, and a tunnel begun eastward, the
most difficult part of it being to make an opening in the
thick foundation wall. The hope of liberty, however, will
bear man up through the most exhausting labors, and this
fatiguing task was at length successfully performed. The
remainder of the excavation was through earth, and was
easier, though much the reverse of easy.

A few words will tell what was to be done, and how it was
accomplished. The tunnel began near the floor of the cellar,
eight or nine feet underground. Its length would need to be
seventy or eighty feet. Only one man could work in it at a
time, and this he had to do while crawling forward with his
face downward, and with such tools as pocket-knives, small
hatchets, sharp pieces of wood, and a broken fire-shovel.
After the opening had made some progress two men could work
in it, one digging, the other carrying back the earth, for
which work frying-pans were brought into use.

Another point of some little importance was the disposal of
the dirt. This was carelessly scattered over the cellar
floor, with straw thrown over it, and some of it placed in
boxes and barrels. The whole amount was not great, and not
likely to be noticed if the officials should happen to enter
the cellar, which had not been cleaned for years.

The work here described was begun in the latter part of
January, 1864. So diligently was it prosecuted that the
tunnel was pronounced finished on the night of February 8.
During this period only two or three men could work at once.
It was, indeed, frightfully exhausting labor, the
confinement of the narrow passage and the difficulty of
breathing in its foul air being not the least of the
hardships to be endured. Work was prosecuted during part of
the period night and day, the absence of a man from
roll-call being concealed