begun. It was a painfully thrilling moment. We were but twenty, with an
army about us, and a long and difficult road before us, crowded with
enemies. In an instant we were to throw off the disguise which had been
our only protection, and trust to our leader's genius and our own
efforts for safety and success. Fortunately we had no time for giving
way to reflections and conjectures which could only unfit us for the
stern task ahead.

When we stopped, the conductor, the engineer, and many of the passengers
hurried to breakfast, leaving the train unguarded. Now was the moment of
action. Ascertaining that there was nothing to prevent a rapid start,
Andrews, our two engineers, Brown and Knight, and the firemen hurried
forward, uncoupling a section of the train consisting of three empty
baggage or box-cars, the locomotive, and the tender. The engineers and
the firemen sprang into the cab of the engine, while Andrews, with hand
on the rail and foot on the step, waited to see that the remainder of
the party had gained entrance into the rear box-car. This seemed
difficult and slow, though it really consumed but a few seconds, for the
car stood on a considerable bank, and the first who came were pitched in
by their comrades, while these in turn dragged in the others, and the
door was instantly closed. A sentinel, with musket in hand, stood not a
dozen feet from the engine, watching the whole proceeding; but before he
or any of the soldiers or guards around could make up their minds to
interfere all was done, and Andrews, with a nod to his engineer, stepped
on board. The valve was pulled wide open, and for a moment the wheels
slipped round in rapid, ineffective revolutions; then, with a bound that
jerked the soldiers in the box-car from their feet, the little train
darted away, leaving the camp and the station in the wildest uproar and
confusion. The first step of the enterprise was triumphantly
accomplished.