A short time previous to our entry Barrett thought he had reason to suspect a tunnel.  He immediately announced that no more rations should be issued until its whereabouts was revealed and the, ringleaders in the attempt to escape delivered up to him.  The rations at that time were very scanty, so that the first day they were cut off the sufferings were fearful.  The boys thought he would surely relent the next day, but they did not know their man.  He was not suffering any, why should he relax his severity?  He strolled leisurely out from his dinner table, picking his teeth with his penknife in the comfortable, self-satisfied way of a coarse man who has just filled his stomach to his entire content—­an attitude and an air that was simply maddening to the famishing wretches, of whom he inquired tantalizingly: 

“Air ye’re hungry enough to give up them G-d d d s—­s of b——­s yet?”

That night thirteen thousand men, crazy, fainting with hunger, walked hither and thither, until exhaustion forced them to become quiet, sat on the ground and pressed their bowels in by leaning against sticks of wood laid across their thighs; trooped to the Creek and drank water until their gorges rose and they could swallow no more—­did everything in fact that imagination could suggest—­to assuage the pangs of the deadly gnawing that was consuming their vitals.  All the cruelties of the terrible Spanish Inquisition, if heaped together, would not sum up a greater aggregate of anguish than was endured by them.  The third day came, and still no signs of yielding by Barrett.  The Sergeants counseled together.  Something must be done.  The fellow would starve the whole camp to death with as little compunction as one drowns blind puppies.  It was necessary to get up a tunnel to show Barrett, and to get boys who would confess to being leaders in the work.  A number of gallant fellows volunteered to brave his wrath, and save the rest of their comrades.  It required high courage to do this, as there was no question but that the punishment meted out would be as fearful as the cruel mind of the fellow could conceive.  The Sergeants decided that four would be sufficient to answer the purpose; they selected these by lot, marched them to the gate and delivered them over to Barrett, who thereupon ordered the rations to be sent in.  He was considerate enough, too, to feed the men he was going to torture.

The starving men in the Stockade could not wait after the rations were issued to cook them, but in many instances mixed the meal up with water, and swallowed it raw.  Frequently their stomachs, irritated by the long fast, rejected the mess; any very many had reached the stage where they loathed food; a burning fever was consuming them, and seething their brains with delirium.  Hundreds died within a few days, and hundreds more were so debilitated by the terrible strain that they did not linger long afterward.

The boys who had offered themselves as a sacrifice for the rest were put into a guard house, and kept over night that Barrett might make a day of the amusement of torturing them.  After he had laid in a hearty breakfast, and doubtless fortified himself with some of the villainous sorgum whisky, which the Rebels were now reduced to drinking, he set about his entertainment.