Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-07-30
when he strained NJ his bonds = recall.

olu acquaintance by nudging him wit
his tied feet, but when that matter O
fact fellow grasped- the situation h
calculated, 'Well, I'll be -"
Charley took one of our boys an,
went out of the hut. They came bacl
In about half an hour and said the,
mad the boat ready. In the interval m,
old acquaintance had exclaimed abou
once in five minutes and each time an
parently after profound thought, "Well
| I'll be -"
finally told him hoped not, and /
wasn't his fault. we had turned tn,
tables on him.
Jest tell me how you done it all,
said he, IAN won't ask no more"
I'VE didn't do it," said I, thinking {,
get off practical temperance lectur,
that might be repeated after the war
I'VE didn't do it; whisky did it." Their
nodded suggestively toward tn,
guard who had wanted medicine.
Whisky" exclaimed the questioner
with u wide eyed look. "An' you didn't
offer me toothful?" Then he look
ed reproachfully and remarked, "a
wouldn't hev thought it of you"
This made me feel so bad that ]
hastened to say:
Il didn't do 1t. never thought OF
the whisky. Twas given to me to use
In case we got soaking. wouldn't,
have thought of it again. I haven't
tasted whisky three times in my life."
The poor fellow looked at me search
ingly and finally said: 1--WE got tc
b'lieve you. do b'lieve you. But, say
whar was you brung up?
Score one for the north" said 1 to
myself, as 1 shortly answered; ''York
state"
Now, gentlemen" said Brainard,
wed better move before any Of your
friends drop along and upset our plans.
Two of us will first take the sergean
and the firearms across the river"
AS the sergeant didn't demur Bra l.
ard loosened his feet and took him
down to the skiff, the other boys stag.
gering under all the weapons except
the gun. which / held. In about 15
minutes one came back with the boat.
and the remainder of us crossed, the
decentralization being covered In the
starlight by Brainard and Confeder-
ate double barreled gun.
Then we sat, or stood, on that river
bank until dawn began to break, Brain
ard having whispered to me that it
would not be safe to approach camp in
the dark. We did not dare to make q
fire, and us we had not worn our over
coats when we started the morning be-
fore we were chilled to the bone. sug-
gested we should try to warm our
selves with single sips Of the whisky, If
any was left but Brainard objected,
saying it was no time for experiments.
As for the Johnnies, they dropped upon
the ground and slept as peacefully as If
nothing unusual had occurred.
AT the first streak of dawn Brainard
ordered the prisoners into the boat,
two of them in the stern and one In the
bow, while he sat amidships and row
ed, first cautioning our two boys to
keep along the bank abreast of him and
fire on any prisoner who CHANGED to
change his position. he suggested that
I, being the commander of the expedi-
ton, should hurry on in advance and
report, SO that the prisoners should not
be fired ut on suspicion that they were
coming on q business errand.
acted upon his suggestion, and as
hurried along it occurred to me that al
though / officially was in command
Brainard had been doing all the plan
ming and work. Why hadn't instead
of he thought to get that stupid fellow
drunk and thus prepare the way for
our escape, instead of accepting our
fate and dropping unquestioningly to
sleep? Brainard's head had been alert,
mine in a. daze. That was the only diff
ference, but it was enough to make mo
feel uncomfortable. Still, "honor to
whom honor is due" would see to it
that Charley got full credit. could be
glad, too, that the man who had been
smarter than was my dearest friend.
entered the camp without being
fired at, and the captain was as glad to
see me and hear the story as If 1 had
been his own son. told everybody
the news, got them all on the river
bank as a reception committee and got
Hamilton to propose three cheers for
Brainard." Charley himself loosed the
bonds of the Johnnies as our boys
crowded around. My own special john
ny no sooner found his hands free than
he whispered something to Brainard.
Eyes; certainly. Thank you for re-
minding me-" Then he shook the cap.
tain's canteen inquiringly and handed
1t to the prisoner, who swallowed some
of its contents and passed the remain
der to the sergeant, saying as he point
ed Indignantly to the third prisoner:
Don't leave none for him, durn himw
you've done handsomely. corporal"
said the captain to Brainard.
"'Twasn't l, captain" Charley re-
piled, with salute; "'twas your whis-
ky that did the business"
There was at least one duty Of the
expedition remaining In which Brain
ard shouldn't get ahead of me. took
those prisoners under guard down to
the brush hut where our company cook
had been installed and provided them
with big breakfast. To my de-
light, they enjoyed our white bread
and cold corned beef rs heartily as
had enjoyed their bacon and corn bread
three months before. AS to coffee, they
nearly emptied the half kettle that had
been standing since our own boys had
been served half an hour before. When
he could drink no more, my own spe-
cial prisoner caressed the place where
he had put the coffee, gazed contem-
platively ut the kettle and remarked:
"rhere's always some good luck can
be dug out of trouble eff you'll look at
1t right. Here l am prisoner ag'in:
but. on t'other hand, I'll have genuine.
sure 'nough coffee twice day till I'm
exchanged ag'in. Um-m.mg