Tom had made up his mind how he would try to reach the Union lines. As he had escaped before from the locomotive-foray by pushing boldly into the enemy's country, so he would do now. He would try his luck in following the James River to the sea, for off the river's mouth he knew there lay a squadron of Northern ships, blockading Hampton Roads. The "Merrimac's" attempt of March, 1862, had never been repeated. Our flag was still there, in these February days of 1864, and Tom knew it. He had resolved to seek it there. He explained his plan to his three comrades. They would steal a boat, row or drift down the James by night, hide and sleep by day, forage Of his three temporary companions, one finally reached our lines, one was shot within a few hundred yards of his goal, and one was recaptured. Of the 109 who escaped from Libby, 48 were caught and thrust back into prison. Tom walked along the river bank, prying in the welcome darkness for a boat. It would not have been difficult to steal it, if he could have found it. But at this point the James is wide and shallow and full of miniature rapids. It was utterly bare of boats. The boy's search could That night he followed the bank until he was below the city, still without finding a boat. There had been plenty of boats along this part of the river the morning before, but as soon as the escape from Libby had been discovered, all boats had been seized by the military authorities, to prevent their being used by the fugitives. They had been taken to a point below the town. As Tom wormed himself cautiously near this point, very cautiously, for he heard voices upon the bank above his head, and also the crackle of a camp-fire, he saw in the gray dawn a flotilla "Fate cannot harm me; I have dined today." It is too much to do to face Fate on an empty stomach. Napoleon said that an army traveled on its belly. Men must have food if they are to march and fight. A Confederate soldier sauntered along the shore and stopped just in front of the boy's hiding-place. He had a rude fish-pole. Either he knew how to fish, or the James River fish were very hungry. A string of a dozen hung from his shoulder. The sight of them was too much for Tom to stand. A raw fish seemed to him the most toothsome morsel in the world. He knew he was courting certain capture, but he was starving. He would pretend to be a Confederate himself. He spoke to the soldier, not out of the fullness of his heart, but out of the emptiness of his stomach. "I'm hungry," he said, "give a fellow a fish, will you?" The soldier turned with a start. He was a tall, gaunt man, an East Tennessee mountaineer, who had started to join the Union army when a Confederate conscript-officer seized him and sent him South, under guard, to serve the cause he had meant to fight against. East Tennessee was, as a rule, loyal to the Union. The men from there who were found in the Confederate "Sholy, I'll give you a fish," he said. "You can have all you want. I'll light a fire and cook some for you." "I can't wait," gasped Tom, wolf-hunger in his gleaming eyes. "I'm starving." He tried to reach out for the fish and collapsed in utter weakness. With food at last within his grasp, he was too far gone to take it. Jim Grayson had been very hungry more than once in his thirty years of hard life. He saw that Tom was telling the truth. "Hush," he whispered, for he had caught sight of some fellow soldiers on the bank, not a hundred feet away. "Hush, sumbuddy's comin'. You mus' take little pieces first. I'll cut one up for you." He was drawing out his knife from a deep pocket when the soldiers stopped on the bank above their heads and shouted down, asking him to give them some fish too. "Sholy," laughed Jim. "Here's some for you-uns." He tossed half a dozen up to them and then sat down at the mouth of the hole that sheltered Tom, thinking to hide him in case the others came down the bank. His back was towards the boy. What was left of his catch hung within two inches of Tom's nose. That was Tom's chance. He tore off a couple of little fish and tore them to bits with his teeth. His first sensation was one of deathly sickness; his next one of returning strength. Grayson twitched the remaining fish into his lap. He knew the boy had already had too much food, for a first meal. Meanwhile he was chatting cheerily with his fellow soldiers, who fortunately did not come down the bank and soon moved off, leaving Jim and Tom alone. Now was the time for explanations. "Don't be afeard," said Jim, with a kindly smile. "I 'low you be Tom Strong, bean't you? I guess you was in Libby day afore yisterday. I ain't goin' to give you up. I'm Union, I be, The sense of safety, safety at least for the moment, was too much for Tom. He could not speak. "Thar, thar," Jim went on, "it's all right. Jes' tell me what I can do. I'll bring you eatins soon ez night comes, but what'll you do then?" Tom told him what he hoped to do then. It was a wild scheme to float down nearly two hundred miles of river through a hostile country, but yet it offered a chance of success. And if there was a chance of success for the boy, why not for the man? "Ef so be's ez you'se sot on it," Jim said, at the end of the talk, "I vum I'll run the resk with you. You ain't no ways fit to start off alone. Ef you have to hist that thar tree into the James River, you cudn't a-do it. I kin. 'N ef you wuz all alonst, you mout fall off'n be drownded. We-uns'll go together. 'N then I'll hev a chanst to fight fer the old Union." Tom was only too glad of the promised company. Darkness came only a few minutes before Jim Grayson did. He brought with him a bundle of food, upon part of which Tom forthwith supped. He also brought his gun. "I'm a deserter now, you see," he explained to the boy, "and I'll be shot ef so be I'm caught. But ef I be caught, I'll shoot some o' they-uns fust." They could dimly see the outlines of the big tree, now tossing in the waves that broke above the submerged sandbank, as if it were struggling to be free. They swam out to it, Jim strongly, Tom weakly. They reached it none too soon. Ten minutes later it would have started of its own accord. Jim's task in "histing" it was easy. They were afloat at once. The top of the tree, a mass of bare branches, for the tiny tender leaves of the early Southern spring had been swept away by the water, formed the bow of their craft. They both perched far back, leaning against the tangled roots. Jim gave a final push with one dangling foot and they were off. That "Where are we?" whispered Tom. He knew the human voice carries a great distance over water and while there seemed to be no one who could overhear, he would run no unnecessary risk. "I never sailed no river before," Jim cheerily answered, "'n I dun know nothin' 'bout the Jeems River, but I 'low we've come 'bout a thousand mile. 'N it's nigh sun-up. How'll we-uns git to sho' 'n hide?" "If we did that," said Tom, "we'd have to give up our ship. Don't let us do that. Let's say what Captain Lawrence said: 'Don't give up the ship!' We'll call her the 'Liberty' and sail her down to Hampton Roads. We can hide in the branches or the roots if we meet anybody on the river. Everybody will give us a wide berth. We have some food, thanks to you. Forty-eight hours more will see us through." "All right, Captain," Jim Grayson replied. "You're the commander." Up to that time, the Confederate private had been in command of the expedition, but now that the Union officer was himself again, he took charge of everything, much to Jim's content and also, we must admit, much to Tom's content. The good ship "Liberty," Tom Strong, captain, Jim Grayson, mate, made a prosperous voyage. Its crew was thoroughly scared three or four times by the sight of Confederate craft, small and large. When a gunboat selected it as a floating target and plumped half-a-dozen cannon balls around it, the crew thought the end The "Liberty" would have gone straight out to sea, so far as any control by its crew was concerned. It did go out to sea, indeed, but not until after Tom and Jim had been taken from it by a boat from the Admiral's ship. Jim had fired off his gun to attract attention, as the "Liberty" neared the squadron, and then he and Tom had both stood up on the teetering trunk of their tree and shouted and waved their |