. Several shots were fired at him, but he dashed on and
gained the timber, two guards following him into it. A short time after
the guards came back and said they had killed him, but I afterwards
learned of his escape and return to his home.

It is worthy of note that I had become rather popular with our rebel
guards, and that by an apparently strange method.

When we were first captured I had made up my mind to make the best of a
bad job, and had, therefore, lost no opportunity to be sociable with our
captors, while my natural tendencies led me into conversations of
raillery and criticism whenever a chance was offered. The desire to
forget unpleasant reflections increased both my desire to talk and my
ability to do so, and, during the march, I was constantly moving about
among the prisoners, interviewing the guards, finding out all I could
learn and discussing the situation of the country with every rebel who
would talk to me. It had soon become apparent to me that nearly all our
guards were not only sociably inclined, but rather disposed to enjoy my
comments upon the Confederacy, and the daily talks and discussions, in
which I freely gave vent to my ideas, were at once the cause of many
fears for my safety, among my comrades, and of increasing popularity
among the rebels. The boys held their breath on many occasions,
expecting me to be shot for my impudence and candor, reproving me for it
as they had a chance; but, whether because the rebels liked criticism,
or liked the way in which it was made, I was sought out by them and
encouraged in my talks, receiving many tokens of friendship.

One day, as we were wearily plodding along, a strange-looking figure
rode up beside me and opened up a conversation. The rider was an
ungainly, poorly-dressed, ugly specimen of a country doctor, and his
mount was one of the sorriest-looking steeds to be seen in a day's
journey among many poor specimens of horseflesh. This man rode along the
line, examining the prisoners with an air and look which were gall and
wormwood to us. For some reason best known to himself he selected me as
his intended victim, and, as he rode up beside me, I was saluted with
some remark about d----d Yankees, which brought forth a tirade of
raillery from me, in which I expatiated very fully upon stay-at-homes,
and negro equality as I knew it to exist in the South. The man was
furious, but the several guards within hearing nodded and grinned when I
looked toward