Now he has to stand a second court-martial, and serve
a double sentence for desertion!
He was so silly about it too. The prisoners were at the large ice
house down by the river, getting ice out for the daily delivery. There
were sentinels over them, of course, but in some way that man managed
to sneak over the ice through the long building to an open door,
through which he dropped down to the ground, and then he ran. He was
missed almost instantly and the alarm given, but the companies were
sent to the lowland along the river, where there are bushes, for there
seemed to be no other place where he could possibly secrete himself.
The officer of the day is responsible, in a way, for the prisoners, so
of course Lieutenant Todd went to the ice house to find out the cause
of the trouble, and on his way back he accidentally passed an old
barrel-shaped water wagon. Not a sound was heard, but something told
him to look inside. He had to climb up on a wheel in order to get high
enough to look through the little square opening at the top, but he is
a tall man and could just see in, and peering down he saw the wretched
prisoner huddled at one end, looking more like an animal than a human
being. He ordered him to come out, and marched him to the guardhouse.
It was a strange coincidence, but the officer of the day happened to
have been promoted from the ranks, had served his three years as an
enlisted man, and then passed a stiff examination for a commission.
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