comfortable, until one night coming from
work he met one, who had known him in the
Militia. He was questioned at once, where
and how he had left them. In reply he told
him that he had been discharged on account
of being too short (his height being only five
feet two inches), but this was of no use,
the other having seen his name in the Hue
and Cry. It was proposed to him to give
himself up at once, and if he done so he
would share the reward. Knowing this only
to be a ruse to get him to the police station,
he seemed to comply, when they went to a
public house; from this he managed to give
the fellow the slip, and got to his lodgings
all safe. He now saw that Milton was too
hot for him, and packing up his bundle,
determined to start the first thing in the
morning; but delaying has lost empires; he
ought to have gone there and then, for at mid-night
the informer was at the door with the
police, and woke out of a pleasant dream to
find himself a prisoner. The following day
he was sworn in a deserter, and laid in jail
until an escort came for him from his
Regiment.

I will relate an account as told me by
another, a little undersized Chap, whom I
took a dislike to at first sight; there are
some who as soon as you set eyes on, you
detect something wrong about—something
that tells you, they are not to be trusted,
and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, on
further acquaintance, you find this first
impression to be correct. In this instance it
was so with me. I will tell his story as near
as I can in his own words.

"I deserted from Sheffield in May last; I
had gone to town one night, and happened to
meet along with an old shopmate, I had
formerly known in Liverpool; he was
extremely glad to see me, and insisted on standing
treat. We went from public-house to
public-house, and got quite comfortable and
jolly together, so nothing would satisfy him
but to have on my clothes, he would be a
soldier for one night; we exchanged, and
then it struck me I would never have a
better chance of stepping it, the fool had left
all his money in the pockets, about thirty
shillings. I slipped out of the room, and out
of the house, down one street up another. I
now breathed freer, and even had a laugh, |
when I thought how surprised he would be
at my absence—but I had no time to lose,
but made the best of my way to the Railway
Station, when I was lucky just to catch the
train for Liverpool. I paid my fare and got
in, but felt very nervous until we were fairly
off. I got to my destination all safe, and
procured work easily. The men in the shop
discovered I was a deserter from my under-clothes
being marked my name and
regimental number; but I could trust them all,
and would have been there until now only
for my confounded bad luck.

"As is customary in the trade, another man
and I worked together, and at the fornight's
end I drew his pay as well as my own,
intending to settle with him when we met
at the House of Call, but I never went there,
and forgot all about it, got on the spree,
spent the money, his as well as my own, and
did not show front until the Thursday; but
by this time the Chap (whose togs I had
borrowed at Sheffield) put in his appearance.
That affair, and my having the money,
caused them to report me to the police.
Before an hour I was in jail, for desertion,
and lay there close on three weeks. Being
a tailor I put in as pleasant a time as I
could wish under the circumstances, having
plenty to eat and drink, besides tobacco to
smoke—quite a different affair from this
shop I can assure you. I made a coat here—
for a policeman, who fancied, as he supplied
me with several things, and being a prisoner,
I should charge him nothing; but he found
out his mistake, for when the escort arrived
I reminded him that he owed me a few
shillings for work done. He laughed at the
idea of paying a prisoner, but the Corporal
of the Escort, on being made acquainted
with the affair, made it his duty to see the
governor and state the case to him. The
policeman and I were brought up, when I
made a charge of twelve shillings for making
the coat. This the governor ordered to be
paid at once, explaining that, until I was
tried and proved guilty, I could not be considered
a deserter, for by the law a man is
innocent until the contrary is proved. On
being brought to Aldershot, I was tried and
sentenced to eighty-four days imprisonment
by a District Court Martial. Another man
of the name of—— was tried by the same
Court, and received the same sentence.
While we were in the guard room, a man of the
Regiment gave himself up as a deserter from
the —— , but that Corps did not feel disposed
to claim him, so he was released. But when a
prisoner, this young fellow discovered that the
door opening to the cells, was locked on the
inside, and could be easily unscrewed with a
knife and taken off—an easy mode of escape
lay before us, which we did not fail to take
advantage of; for, about two o'clock in the
morning, we quietly opened the door and
stept out, he first, I after him. It was quite
dark, so we had scarcely any trouble. We
got out of the Camp as quick as possible, the
sentries challenging as we passed, although
none tried to stop us. We swore that we
should not be taken alive, although neither
of us meant this in reality.

"We pushed on now as hard as possible
until daybreak, but had no idea in what part
of the country we were; feeling certain
however that we was far beyond the camp
boundaries, and this was all we cared for. A
policeman tried to stop us, but he got a
lesson that would prevent him stopping
others. We now came to a road-side public
house, and had plenty to eat as well as