g to and fro for half an hour, he
lay down again, and, between sleeping and waking, finished the night;
uncomfortably, it is true, and yet without any positive suffering. There
were hundreds, if not thousands, who were enduring the agony of fearful
wounds through that long night; who were lying alone and uncared for where
they had fallen in the deadly strife; who were dying every hour, away from
their homes and friends, and with no kind hand to minister to their
necessities, with no sweet voice of a loved one to smooth their passage
down to the dark, cold grave.

Tom thought of these, for he had seen them in his path, and he felt that
he had no cause to complain--that he ought to be cheerful and happy. At
the dawn of the day he and his fellow-prisoners were marched to Sudley
Church, where they were to be confined until they could be sent to
Richmond. Here Tom found a captain belonging to his regiment; but neither
could give any information to the other in regard to their friends.

"I shall not stay here long," said the captain, in a whisper, when they
had become better acquainted. "I intend to leave to-night."

"Can't I go with you?" asked Tom.

"You can go, but we had better not go together."

Tom thought for a while, and determined upon an attempt to escape. During
the day, he carefully examined the premises, and decided upon his mode of
operations.

CHAPTER XVI.

A PERPLEXING QUESTION.

Tom Somers, who had had some experience, in a small way, in the kind of
business now before him, was filled with hope when he had adopted his
plan. He was a resolute and energetic young man, and to resolve upon any
thing was almost equivalent to doing it. There were a great many
difficulties in the way of success, it is true; but, nothing daunted by
these, he determined to persevere. The church in which the prisoners were
confined was carefully guarded on the exterior, and the sentinels carried
loaded muskets in their hands--so that the affair before him was more
hazardous and trying than that of escaping from the attic chamber of
Squire Pemberton's house in Pinchbrook.

If he succeeded in making his way out of the church and eluding the guard
which surrounded it, even then his trials would only have commenced; for
there were many miles of hostile country between him and Washington,
whither he supposed the Federal army had been driven. The captain who
intended to escape at the same time gave him some information whic