XVII
THROUGH THE BARS OF THE CAGE
I should have tried escape earlier but that it was little use to
venture forth in the harsh winter in a hostile country. But now
April had come, and I was keen to make a trial of my fortune. I
had been saving food for a long time, little by little, and hiding
it in the old knapsack which had held my second suit of clothes. I
had used the little stove for parching my food--Indian corn, for
which I had professed a fondness to my jailer, and liberally paid
for out of funds which had been sent me by Mr. George Washington
in answer to my letter, and other moneys to a goodly amount in a
letter from Governor Dinwiddie. These letters had been carefully
written, and the Marquis de Vaudreuil, into whose hands they had
first come, was gallant enough not to withhold them--though he
read them first.
Besides Indian corn, the parching of which amused me, I had dried
ham and tongue, and bread and cheese, enough, by frugal use, to
last me a month at least. I knew it would be a journey of six weeks
or more to the nearest English settlement, but if I could get that
month's start I should forage for the rest, or take my fate as I
found it: I was used to all the turns of fortune now.
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