“No, you take ’em, Mc; I don’t want ’em; I can’t eat ’em!”

I then produced the tobacco, and his face lighted up.  Concluding that this was all the comfort that he could have, and that I might as well gratify him, I cut up some of the weed, filled his pipe and lighted it.  He smoked calmly and almost happily all the afternoon, hardly speaking a word to me.  As it grew dark he asked me to bring him a drink.  I did so, and as I raised him up he said: 

“Mc, this thing’s ended.  Tell my father that I stood it as long as I could, and——­”

The death rattle sounded in his throat, and when I laid him back it was all over.  Straightening out his limbs, folding his hands across his breast, and composing his features as best I could, I lay, down beside the body and slept till morning, when I did what little else I could toward preparing for the grave all that was left of my long-suffering little friend.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Determination to escape—­different plans and their merits—­I prefer the
Appalachicola route—­preparations for departure—­A hot day—­the fence
passed successfully pursued by the hounds—­caught
—­returned to the stockade.

After Watt’s death, I set earnestly about seeing what could be done in the way of escape.  Frank Harvey, of the First West Virginia Cavalry, a boy of about my own age and disposition, joined with me in the scheme.  I was still possessed with my original plan of making my way down the creeks to the Flint River, down the Flint River to where it emptied into the Appalachicola River, and down that stream to its debauchure into the bay that connected with the Gulf of Mexico.  I was sure of finding my way by this route, because, if nothing else offered, I could get astride of a log and float down the current.  The way to Sherman, in the other direction, was long, torturous and difficult, with a fearful gauntlet of blood-hounds, patrols and the scouts of Hood’s Army to be run.  I had but little difficulty in persuading Harvey into an acceptance of my views, and we began arranging for a solution of the first great problem—­how to get outside of the Hospital guards.  As I have explained before, the Hospital was surrounded by a board fence, with guards walking their beats on the ground outside.  A small creek flowed through the southern end of the grounds, and at its lower end was used as a sink.  The boards of the fence came down to the surface of the water, where the Creek passed out, but we found, by careful prodding with a stick, that the hole between the boards and the bottom of the Creek was sufficiently large to allow the passage of our bodies, and there had been no stakes driven or other precautions used