There must have been more than a thousand prisoners crowded into that old barn.
Britomarte, being one of the last taken, found herself near the door. And when it was closed and barred upon her, she could get no farther. She was like a late arrival at an overcrowded lecture-room—only this crowd was all standing, because there was no room to sit or lie down. The building was broken here and there, and through crevices a little air got in; this only prevented the prisoners from being suffocated. They were a patient and silent band of victims—only here and there was heard a groan wrung from some sufferer from disease or wounds; and now and then a curse struck out from some exasperated soldier who found himself squeezed nearly to death by the crowd.
Britomarte, being small and slight, sank down upon the floor, with her back resting against the closed door. And notwithstanding her great mental anxiety—worn out in body and mind, and overcome with heat and fatigue—she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep, that lasted perhaps two hours.
She was rudely awakened by falling backwards. The door against which she had leaned had been suddenly opened, and she had gone over.
Half bewildered by the deep sleep and the rude shock that had ended it, she picked herself up in time to hear the prison guard shout:
“Come, get out of this, you lazy Yankees! You’ve got to go to Richmond—where you’ve been trying to get for the last three or four years, you know.”
The half suffocated prisoners were only glad to get out into the open air. And though ready to sink with heat, fasting and weariness, they issued forth.
Many of them dropped down upon the ground to rest and stretch their stiff and wearied limbs, and wait for the breakfast which they hoped was coming.
But there was no such good luck in store for them. They were ordered to rise and fall in line; and when, by reason of their stiffness and soreness, they were slow to move, they were poked and goaded up at the point of the bayonet.
Some of the younger men—mere boys, who in their comfortable Northern or Western homes, had been used to warm and plentiful meals, and even during their campaigns with the army had been provided with regular and excellent rations—could not get used to living without food and drink. So they complained of hunger and asked for breakfast.