On they went along a road bounded on one side by an open tobacco-field and on the other by a spare growth of wood, with here and there a patch of brush. Andy noted with satisfaction that it was growing dark rapidly and that the timber was between himself and the river. He understood thoroughly what a risk he would run in trying to escape--that his captors would first try to catch him, and failing in this, would do their best to shoot him down. But, on the other hand, what was he to expect? A journey to a Northern prison, where perhaps he would be made to pass months, and it might be years, in some loathsome cell, crowded in with others, poorly fed, and made to suffer all sorts of indignities. He imagined things worse than they were, but the effect upon his actions was the same as though it were all true. A mile had been covered, when they reached a bend in the road, which now turned away from the Potomac. Here stood a deserted farmhouse, set in a wilderness of pear-trees. “Great smoke, look!” yelled Andy, shoving the soldiers away from him and pointing towards the house. “Look out, they are going to shoot us! Look out!” And with a quick dash he gained the side of the highway and leaped the worm-fence. As was natural, all three of the Union soldiers ducked their heads and strove in vain to ascertain what Andy meant. By the time they had recovered and comprehended the trick that had been played, the young Confederate was out of sight behind the trees. “Fools! After him!” shrieked the sergeant, and clambered over the fence as rapidly as his somewhat dumpy form would permit. At the same time one of the soldiers, seeing a quiver among the trees, fired, but the bullet did not touch Andy. In a moment more all three of the Union soldiers were in full pursuit. In the meantime, the young Confederate was making his way through the tangled undergrowth and over jagged rocks and exposed tree-roots with all the speed at his command. There was no mistaking the location of the river, for the whole neighborhood sloped in that direction, so all he had to do was to keep on going downhill until the water was gained. It was perilous moving, too, for the undergrowth was thick with briar bushes, which scratched his face and his hands, and caught his clothing so tightly that often it was impossible to move until the offending branch had been torn completely from its bush. “I’m bound to get away somehow,” he muttered, as he flung aside a briar which left a scratch from nose to ear. “There is one consolation, they are all larger than me, especially that sergeant, and traveling down here will be just that much more difficult for them. If only they don’t send word along the river front to watch out for me.”