"Shut up!" yelled half a dozen fellow prisoners. "Do you intend to sleep, or let any of us sleep to-night?" "We're all going to be led out and shot to-morrow," whined Diggs. "Well, is that any reason ye should be keepin' us awake all night?" replied one gruff fellow in an adjoining cell. The doors of all the cells were open. Diggs was awed into silence by the tones of his companions, and, while wondering how these men could take their coming fate so coolly, fell asleep. He attributed his own emotions to the possession of finer sensibilities than those of his companions. "What's to be done with us?" he asked next morning of the soldier who brought their breakfast. "Don't know," was the reply, as that worthy set the breakfast on the stand and departed. Mr. Diggs did not have an excellent appetite. "Say, messmate," said a mischievous prisoner, "don't eat too much, for these Yankees are cannibals, and, when they have fattened their prisoners, they eat 'em." Poor Diggs pushed back his plate, sick at heart, and commenced pacing the hall in front of his cell. Seeing a soldier on guard duty outside, he went to the grating and called to him: "Can I speak to you?" "I reckon you can," was the answer. "Do you know what's going to become of me?" "I think, sir," said the soldier, gravely, "that you will be in h--l before morning." "Oh! they do really intend to kill me," cried Diggs, and running back to his cell, he fell upon his knees and tried to pray. "If ever I get out of this," he vowed, "I'll be a preacher. I was made for a preacher." "Well, now, who cares if you are?" said a fellow prisoner, roughly, who was playing cards with three others at the table. "You needn't be disturbin' honest men, who hev no desire for sich things. Keep yer jaw and yer preachin' to yerself!" "How can you be so wicked," said Diggs, "to carry on such unholy games, when you know that the judgment awaits you?" "Oh, dry up!--I'll pass," said one. "Remember, you wicked men, that you have souls to save!" cried Diggs, growing quite warm and earnest in this, his first exhortation. "Oh, hush up yer nonsense!--Order him up, Bill," said another. "You have souls," persisted Diggs. "We've got no such thing!--I'll order you up and play it alone," replied the one called Bill. "Remember, poor dying sinners, you have souls," Diggs went on. "Remember, sir, you have a head," said one of the players, "and if you don't keep it closed, you'll get it punched." Abashed and crestfallen, Diggs again retired to a corner to pray, this time in silence, and to wonder at the perverseness and wickedness of this generation. The day passed, the next, the next, and the next without any news from the outside world. Diggs asked the soldier, who brought their meals twice a day, at each visit, what was to be done to him, the soldier on each occasion answering that he did not know.