Litchfield enquirer., 1861-11-07
ged couch whereon lay But, sleeping or walk ing, some hawk eyed watcher kept guard by side

In that camp was another prlsOGer beside my
 self miserable creature, apparently, only wait
 ing the certain death that the caprice of a mer
 ciless band would, in some unexpected moment
 hurl upon his head, and whom nothing but the
 same caprice permitted still to move upon the
 earth living thing. This wretch had been cap tured some days after had, in the act of rob
 ping the dead after skrmish. Hiscrime in the eye of the solder, is a deadly sin. He is the parish of his class. A vulture too foul for an honest shot, from whose blood the bright stee would receive disgrace deeper than its stain A thing too worthless to hang one whose loath some life shonld be crushed out suddenly, with stone or club, as reptile should and the con- tamlned weapon then flung from the hand for. ever.
 He cringed to his captors, and they drove him from them with curses and kicks, and when he fawned they spat upon him.
 AN ESCAPE.
 | One night, after unwearied watchfuness and ceaseless planning, 1 broke from the bondage that held me. The night was cloudy and threat ened rain. l had heard enough from my cap- tors to know that detachment of northern troops was encamped to the eastward, within five miles of us. This detachment I resolved to reach or die. From what 1 had learned among the guerilla, felt assured that could with lit tie difficulty find the encampment. After crouch ing my way through aud along the outskirt of thicket (that grew by the side of road, old and and grassgrown, running nearly east and west) for at least two miles, emerged from it into the road, sweating and bleeding; hatless, my clothes torn to fragments panting and wearied. 1 had taken my bearings from the few stars that gmmered through..the clouds, in the unobssured spots of the heavens, and was about to start along the road ill the eastery direction, when a man leaped from the thiclet-anI the thief of the battlefield, the punderer of the dead, stood by my side. On, on!' he exclaimed in hoarse aEd excited tones, pointing along the road in the direction was about to take, they're follow ing" He shook with fear, and pitied him. Dis gust at his presence, too, was lessened by sense of the common danger Before l could speak he dashed past me along the road. 1 followed, and thus we fled for more than twenty minutes j; he little ahead of me during the whole time- e reached d narrow, unfinished bridge, stretch ing from high banks across stream. We be- gan to cross the bridge, but our progress was mpeded and even endangered, as Cur only step ping points wei from beam to beam and plank to plank, most of them loose and rotten and at uneven distances. The bridge was supported hy huge plies set Ill the river, whose sul.en waters We Were able to distinguish rnshing far beneath us. Yet the river seemed shallow there, for White breakers curling round the rocks We could detect also. Onward we went. 1 Was now in advance some dozen yards. All before us, be- yonh twenty feet was lost in the same distance. ct on We pressed from one rotten shaking tim. Der to another. Suddenly loud shouts in the rear proclaimed the pursuing foe. These were followed by the sharp ring of rifles, and a fearful shriek from ny companion. stopped and turn ed. lie called en me, for the love of Heaven, to ilelp him." 1 returned some little distance and found him cineing, a;.sut a couple of feet above the cross pieces, to a narrow iron bar that ran from one of the piles to another. lie was struggling wildly. How is it?' I asked as stopped to aid aim. But discovered my asss- tance 10 bS va!ueless, unless 1 could place my feet on the bar, and, leaning my breast upon one of the ti!b"rs, reach over both hands and grasp him by the collar. As l Was making this essay tic moon broke fully upon us, and 1 met his up turned palild lace. Ills teeth were set His bloodless lips drawn from them with rgdity that left them completely bare. His eyes were starting from their sockets and his form trem- bled so as to shake the last hold to winch he clung.
 One of their bulets,'' he hissed between his teeth, |" has smashed my ankle. l am going !' His hold relaxed, another terrible shriek rang through the night air, and he fell crashing among the lutting rocks below his blood minglng with the pure element that eddied round them.
 l again pursued my way along the bridge alone. Many bullet whistled past me from my inyeterate but bewldered foes, and many a mar row escape ] ran of being hurled into the dark river, or of impalement upon it's half-concealed rocks. But one such death suficed for that night. At length I reached the other side thankful bat exhausted. Still, with unabatad speed, pursued my way, until the challenge ofa sentinel stopped further progress. had reach ed one of the pickets of the detachment for which was bound gallant northerners. l was safe, and a free man again.
 Morrisana, Sept, 1861.