, his men after him.

Only Cushing and one of the men got away. The others were captured,
except one who was drowned. Boats were quickly out, a fire of logs was
made on the wharf, which threw its light far out over the stream, but he
reached the shore unseen, chilled to the bone and completely worn out.

A sentry was pacing on the wall of a fort over his head, men passed
looking for him, but he managed to creep to the swamp nearby and hide in
the mud and reeds.

There he lay till the break of day. Then he crawled on till he got into
a cornfield nearby. Now for the first time he could stand up and walk.
But just as he got to the other side of the field he came face to face
with a man.

Cushing was not afraid. It was a black face. In those days no Union
soldier was afraid of a black face. The slaves would do anything for
"Massa Linkums' sojers." The young lieutenant was almost as black as the
slave after his long crawl through the mud.

Cushing told him who he was, and sent him into the town for news,
waiting in the cornfield for his return. After an hour the messenger
came back. His face was smiling with delight.

"Good news, Massa," he said. "De big iron ship's gone to de bottom suah.
Folks dar say she'll neber git up agin."

"Mighty good," said Cushing. "Now, old man, tell me how I can get back
to the ships."

The negro told him all he could, and with a warm "Good-bye" the fugitive
took to the swamp again. On he went, hour by hour, forcing his way
through the thick bushes and wading in the deep mud. Thus he went on,
mile after mile, until at length, at two o'clock in the afternoon, he
found himself on the banks of a narrow creek.

Here he heard voices and drew back. Looking through the bushes he saw a
party of seven soldiers just landing from a boat. They tied the boat to
the root of a tree and went up a path that led back from the river. Soon
they stopped, sat down, and began to eat their dinner. They could see
their boat from where they sat, but they were too busy eating to think
of that.

Here was Cushing's chance. It was a desperate one, but he was ready to
try anything. He lowered himself quietly into the stream, swam across,
and untied the boat. Then he noiselessly pushed it out and swam with it
down stream. As soon as he was out of sight of the soldiers he climbed
in and rowed away as fast as he could. What the soldiers thought and
said when they missed their boat nobody knows. He did not see them
a