Page 166 - Among the camps, or, Young people's stories of the war

prayers. When lie prayed for his mother he felt very badly,

and a few tears stole out of his eyes. When he was clone,
Jack began to work. He worked carefully and quietly at first,
making a cut or two, and then listening to see if any one stirred
below, This was slow work, and after a while he began to
cut hartier and faster. It showed so very little that he pres­

ently got impatient, and dug his knife deeper into the plank.
It took a good hold, he gave a vigorous pull, and the blade
snapped off in the middle. It made so much noise that one
of l he men below asked :
"W hat are those boys doin' upstairs there? They ain’t

try in- to git away, yo’ s’pose, are they? If so, we better
fetch 'em down here."
Jack flung himself down beside Jake and held his breath.
The soldiers listened, and then one of them said :
■* ® h , no, 'tain’t nothin' but rats. They’re fast asleep, I

f^ness."
i>
Jack almost gave himself up for lost, for he now had only
his broken blade; but after a while he went at It again, more
carefully. He could see that he was making headway now,
and he kept on cutting, Jake went fast asleep in the blanket,

hut jack kept on. After a time he had nearly cut out one of
the planks ; he could get a hold on it and feel it give. At
this point his impatience overcame him. He took hold and
gave a wrench. The plank broke with a noise which startled
noL only Jake lying in his blanket, but the men below, one or

two of whom sprang up. They began to discuss the noise.