that he could not travel through those deep woods at night; should he
wait until it became dark, and then boldly follow the road, or should
he remain where he was until morning? There was one great objection
to the first proposition, and that was his uniform, and the danger he
would run of being captured by the night patrol, which he knew were
stationed at intervals along the road. It did not seem possible for
him to remain where he was; for now, that he had partly got over
his excitement, he began to feel the cravings of hunger; in fact,
it almost rendered him desperate, and he began to wish that he had
surrendered without a struggle, or that he had not attempted to
escape at all, for, if he were a prisoner, he could probably obtain
sufficient food to keep him from starving. But he knew that his time
was too precious to be wasted with such foolish thoughts; besides,
when he thought of home and his mother, who had evidently heard of his
capture, all ideas of surrendering himself vanished, and he felt
that he could endure any thing, even starvation, if he only had the
assurance that he would see home once more. But he knew that wishing
would not bring him out of his present difficulty: he must work
for his liberty; do every thing in his power, and leave the rest to
Providence.

He started out again, and determined that his first step should be to
reconnoiter the road. No one was in sight; but, about a quarter of a
mile down the road, on the other side, was a large plantation-house,
with its neat negro quarters clustering around it, and looking
altogether like a little village. He knew that some of the cabins were
inhabited, for he saw the smoke wreathing out of the chimneys; could
he not go to one of them, and obtain food? He had often heard of
escaped prisoners being fed and sheltered by the negroes; why could
not he throw himself under their protection? He must have something to