We made a hole in each just large enough for a single fellow to squeeze through, but, after a little progress had been made, we enlarged the opening below so that four men could work abreast. We worked at night, and closed the opening so carefully that no one could discover it except he was in the secret."

"How did you get rid of the dirt?" asked Ned.

"We tried various ways. There was a stream which ran under one of the prisons, at about the rate of four miles an hour; we threw a good deal of it into that, and it was carried off by the current. Then we found hollow places in which we stowed it, and we got permission to whitewash the walls, but before we whitewashed we daubed the walls with a mortar made of the dirt, and whitewashed over that. You see there were three or four thousand prisoners, and it was not possible to keep a very sharp lookout. We began our work near the end of August, and before September had got about forty feet along. Then the air began to be bad, and we contrived a lamp which we kept burning in the hole, to expel the dead air. But on the second of September we had a great fright.

I was in prison number

The captain came along with his guards, six, and told us he had found us out. He went straight toward the hole, but could n't find it. Then they began sounding with a crow-bar, and at last hit the spot. You may believe we were pretty well cast down, for we thought that was the end of it. But it turned out that they did not know of the holes in numbers four and five, and all they did was to plug up the hole in our prison. They could n't think what we had done with the earth, and when they asked us, we all said we ate it up to make up for our short fare. They laughed at the idea of our getting out, and when the affair was blown over we went to work again. We waited in number six until

the other holes had been carried farther, for ours was the longest, and then we began again, dug round the stones they had put in to fill up our hole, and went at it like beavers or musk-rats. We worked away with new hope until we were within about forty feet of the place we were to come out. Then we began to form our plans farther. We meant to take a dark, stormy night about ten o'clock, and strike for Torbay, which was about ten miles distant, where we knew there were a lot of small craft, fishing boats, and unarmed vessels, and with these to make our way to France. It was a perfectly feasible plan, and everything was going on well, when, about the middle of September, in broad daylight, a wretch who was in the secret marched up to the turnkeys, went with them to the keeper's house, and told the whole story. He got his reward; they gave him his liberty and some money, I believe, but I would rather have stayed in Dartmoor the rest of my days than have had a minute of that man's freedom. We should have got out if we had not been betrayed. You can guard yourself against everything but a traitor."

"What became of the man?"

"I never knew. If he has died he has gone to judgment," said Uncle Elisha solemnly. "If he is alive, he is waiting for the last judgment, but I guess he's been in a worse prison than Dartmoor a good many years. There's no prison so bad as a guilty conscience."

"How did you get out, finally ?" asked Ned.

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Well, it turned out I was a neutral. I did n't know it, but I had no objection when I found it out. You see I had shipped on board a Nantucket vessel, and when we were caught we were all put down as from Nantucket. So one day the word came for all Nan

tucket men to come out into the square. I thought I'd go to see what the fun was, and there was Sir Isaac Coffin, who was a British admiral. He was a Boston boy, but came of the Nantucket Coffins. He was a hearty old fellow, and wanted to do a good turn to his countrymen, so he made out that Nantucket was a sort of neutral country and he got us all off."

"Now that Uncle Elisha is safe at home. again, children, I think you may all go to bed.

You will have a great

deal to do to-morrow. You know you must catch some scup for breakfast."

A Small Chance.

"Just one thing more, mother," said Nathan. "Uncle Elisha, I wish you'd tell me what you meant by professors walking with their hands turned inside out." Uncle Elisha laughed.

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Why, this way, Nathan," and the old gentleman got up and walked along the porch, with his hands held stiffly by his side, the palms turned outward.

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Oh," said Nathan. "Is that it?" Then they all trooped off

to bed, and Uncle Elisha, Aunt Polly, and Mrs. Bodley followed shortly. There was nothing left awake in the house but a mouse which was stealing toward the old clock in the moonlight, while a cat sat fast asleep. Perhaps the mouse had heard Uncle Elisha's story, and expected to escape the guard.

CHAPTER II.

ON THE WAY HOME.

THE fortnight at Hyannis Port was soon over. It was no new thing for the children to be there, and so they knew exactly what to do, and used all their time with the strictest economy. They went in bathing just as often as they were allowed, and never lost an opportunity to go out in the boat. They went off with their Uncle Elisha after wood, and on stormy days they played in the store, which they kept to their own satisfaction, and it was vastly better fun selling real goods over a real counter to each other than playing at the same game at home. They found an odd assortment of abandoned hats, shoes, and some coats and dresses, with which the store had been stocked years before, but were now wholly out of fashion, even for the plain people of the neighborhood, and they had fine fun dressing themselves in this faded finery and parading about in it. They marched around the neighborhood, and gave great amusement to the very people who had once seen themselves and friends in the same costumes without a smile. On Sunday, after driving over to the village to church, they went at dusk to the

little school-house at the Port to an evening meeting, and were less interested in the meeting itself than in the great variety of lamps contributed by the people who came to the meeting, and in seeing and hearing some of their familiar acquaintances whom they had never suspected of having gifts for exhortation.

When the fortnight was over Uncle Elisha proposed to drive the family home as far as Plymouth, where they could take the stage. He had some business in Plymouth, and was very glad of the chance of company there, he said. He packed the family into his wagon, though it was a close fit, and they started off early in the morning, intending to dine at Sandwich and get supper at Plymouth. Just as they were leaving the house they heard Aunt Polly calling for Bose, the dog. They looked around but could see nothing of him, but as they drove on Aunt Polly called louder and louder, and seemed to be calling after them. Suddenly she shouted "Stop!" and Uncle Elisha reined in his horse. Aunt Polly came hurrying toward them.

"Bose, come here!" she cried, and then it turned out that Bose had been trotting along beneath the wagon, just like an emigrant dog, as Nathan said, and was very reluctant to come out and give up his trip to Plymouth.

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"Bose has friends at Plymouth," said Uncle Elisha. "I 'spect he knew we were going there. Fact is, he used to visit there, and perhaps he'd be living there now if Captain Ezra Gage had n't got married."

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Why, what did that have to do with it?"

"Well, you see, Bose belonged to Captain Gage, who lived over east, and he was an old bachelor; but he married Desire Crowell, who lived in Plymouth; and before he married he used