they dexterously avoided the blows, aimed at their heads with a stick he
hurled after them. He was a large, powerful man, with a voice that could
be heard from one end of the camp to the other, very excitable when
talking, and could never understand a joke, but took everything in
earnest, and nothing afforded the boys more pleasure than to get him
boiling mad.

CHAPTER X.

MANNER OF TUNNELLING.

The manner of digging a tunnel was this: The place selected to commence a
tunnel would usually be in some shed nearest the stockade. In these sheds
we had built ourselves bunks, ten or twelve inches from the ground, which
would usually be movable, and, after the camp had become quiet, one of
these bunks would be removed and a well sunk five or six feet, first
taking the precaution to carefully lay aside the dirt that was just
shoveled off, because that would be dark and look old. Then a guard would
be stationed to prevent any one from seeing what was going on. Pickets
would be thrown out, who, if any one approached, would enter into
conversation with them, in a tone loud enough to be heard by the
tunnellers, and caution them to suspend operations until the danger was
over, when the work would be resumed.

[Illustration: TUNNELLING AT MACON, GA.]

In a camp of eighteen hundred, with always some sick, there would be no
time in the night when some were not going to or returning from the sinks;
so that seeing anyone moving about camp in the night attracted no
particular notice. One would dig and fill haversacks or bags, and
another, with an overcoat on, would carry it concealed beneath that
garment to some place that had been selected as a dumping ground and
deposit it, returning to the shed by a roundabout way so as not to attract
attention. After a well had been sunk about five feet, the tunnel proper
would be started horizontally, in the direction desired, always keeping as
accurate a measure of the distance tunnelled as possible. When it came
time to suspend operations for the night, boards that had been previously
prepared, would be fitted in the well, two feet below the surface, and
covered over with some of the earth that had been removed, always being
careful to put the old dirt that had been preserved on top, thus giving
the surface the same appearance as the rest of the ground; all would then
be carefully swept over, and all traces of new or fresh earth removed. The
bunk would then be replaced and everythi