Tim’s heart thumped as thoughts of escape whirled through his mind. Forgetting himself, he spoke with excitement, “One of us could loosen a board while we were fetching wood. A couple of blows with a decent sized log....” Bell turned around again, this time with his forefinger pressed against his mouth. Then he sauntered to the center of the room. “They’ll hear you, if you aren’t careful.” A guard put his head in the door. “The corporal says, finish your chores,” he drawled. “He wants to take you back inside.” Tim grinned foolishly at the guard, stood up and went around to the Army kitchen. His hands shook as he lit the lantern and scraped the stove. He signaled a sentry who was lighting the lamp that hung in a bracket on the jailhouse wall. “Finished for today,” he said. Addison’s room was on the first floor at the back of the jail, and when the guard knocked the corporal’s keys began to rattle. He opened the door. “’Bout time,” he said, holding his lantern so it would light Tim’s face. As they moved along the first-floor corridor Addison mumbled, “I’m going up too.” It was the custom of Senn or the guard on duty to check the prisoners’ beds after the men came up from their mess. Senn had decreed that they stay on their beds until he’d finished counting them in. Tim went straight to his cell and climbed to his bunk. Red lay on the top bunk, across from Tim. He stirred against the dingy wall. “Sure, that was a capital mush you cooked tonight.” “Sit up,” Tim said. “I’ve got to talk to you.” “What is it, boy?” Tim slapped his thigh. “We have it,” he whispered. “We have a route at last.” “You’ve marked it on the map?” asked Red. Addison’s keys jingled in the hall. “No, I’ll tell you later. Bull Head’s coming down the hall.” Addison’s boots scuffed out of the adjoining cell and he appeared in the doorway with his lantern held high. He looked at Tim with something like a smile. “We meet again,” he said. Dawson’s arm was dangling from his bunk. The man was apparently asleep. Addison squinted at the bunk under Tim’s. “Is Lieutenant Mills in that pile of straw?” Mill’s voice came from the corridor. “Sorry I’m not on my bunk,” he said, “but I had duties at the end of the hall.” “Now what duties ...” Addison began then stammered, “Try not to let it happen again.” He moved past Mills and along the hall. Red doubled up with glee. “Never again,” he said as he rolled over and shook his bunk with silent laughter. Tim smiled to himself. “They say if you stay in jail too long you go back to your childhood ways. We’ll have to get you out of here.” When Addison had left the floor Tim and Red went to the end of the corridor away from the common room and stood by a window that overlooked the yard. The light from a flickering lamp outside painted swift black ghosts against the wall.