When Captain Walker was seized and chained by the soldiers, he made a desperate resistance, but in vain. He soon occupied the little room vacated by Lieutenant Wells. The door closed; he heard the clanking of the heavy chains which secured it, and left him in utter darkness. He stamped, and raved and cursed. Suddenly starting, and wildly clutching his throat, as if some terrible thought had crossed his mind, he groaned and sunk upon the floor.
“Fool! oh! fool that I was! I thought if I pretended friendship, and offered to assist in his escape, all suspicion of this night’s work would be diverted from me. But now—oh! my God! What is the hour? Hark! I hear them working under the building! No! it is not the men yet. It is too early. I dare not tell the guard, for an acknowledgment of any suspicion of such a plot would be a confession of my guilt. Let me search for some mode of escape!”
Walker crawled cautiously around the floor, but not a crevice could be found. Finally, exhausted, he sunk down, giving way to his utter despair. An hour—two hours—dragged slowly by, which appeared an age of misery to the wretched man.
“If I give the alarm, even saying that a peculiar sound attracted my attention, the ruffians who are to do the work, will recognize me, and I shall, thus implicated, suffer an ignominious death! What is that? Great God! they are at work! But they are making so much noise that the guard will hear them, and I shall yet be saved!”
“Don’t make quite so much noise in there, if you please!” exclaimed the guard, as he knocked upon the door where he was stationed.
“It is not me!” yelled the frantic man. “Some one is at the rear of the building, trying to dig through—they want to kill me!”
“We will see about that!” replied the guard, as he left his post, and walked toward the spot indicated.
Walker fell upon his knees and exclaimed:
“Oh! I am saved—saved that dreadful death!”
He bent down, and applying his ear to a small crevice between the logs, where the mud-mortar had fallen out, he listened. He could distinctly hear the words spoken.