nce to escape. Instead of reaching the house by
the usual road he took the men a roundabout way which brought them into
full sight of the place half a mile before they reached it. As Andrew
had guessed, some one was on watch, and instantly gave the alarm, so
that the Redcoats had the pleasure of seeing the man they sought dash
from his house, mount a waiting horse, and make off toward a creek that
ran close by. The creek was swollen and very deep, but the rider plunged
into it and got safely across. The dragoons, however, did not dare
follow, and Thompson, shouting defiance at them, got safely into the
woods and away.

The prisoners were now gathered together, and placed under one escort to
be taken to the British prison at Camden, South Carolina. The journey
was a very hard one. Both the Jackson boys and their cousin, Thomas
Crawford, were suffering from wounds, but they were allowed no food or
water as they were marched the forty miles. The soldiers even forbade
the boys scooping up drinking water from one of the streams they
crossed.

The prison at Camden was wretchedness itself. Two hundred and fifty men
and boys were herded into one small enclosure. They were given no beds,
no medicine, nor bandages to dress their wounds, only a little bad bread
for food. The brothers were separated. Andrew was robbed of his coat and
shoes; he was sick and hungry and worried, for he had no idea what had
happened to his mother or brother. Then as a final horror smallpox broke
out in the prison, and the fear of contagion was added to the other
torments.

One day Andrew was lying in the sun near the prison gate when an officer
was attracted by his youth and came up to talk with him. The officer
seemed kind, and the boy poured out the miseries of the prison life to
him. He told how the men were starved or given bad food, and how they
were ill used by the guards. The officer was shocked and promised to
look into the matter. When he did he found that the contractors were not
giving the prisoners the food they were paid to provide, and he reported
the matter to those in charge. Shortly after conditions improved.

Then news came to the prison that the American General Greene was coming
to deliver them. They were tremendously excited at the report. General
Greene had indeed marched on Camden with a small army of twelve hundred
men, but as he had marched faster than his artillery he thought it best
to wait on a hill outside the town unti