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Page 8
It seems that the good officer--not more true to the king his master
than indulgent towards the prisoner which that same loyalty made--had
left orders that Israel should be supplied with whatever liquor he
wanted that night. So, calling for the can again and again, Israel
invites the two soldiers to drink and be merry. At length, a wag of the
company proposes that Israel should entertain the public with a jig, he
(the wag) having heard that the Yankees were extraordinary dancers. A
fiddle is brought in, and poor Israel takes the floor. Not a little cut
to think that these people should so unfeelingly seek to be diverted at
the expense of an unfortunate prisoner, Israel, while jigging it up and
down, still conspires away at his private plot, resolving ere long to
give the enemy a touch of certain Yankee steps, as yet undreamed of in
their simple philosophy. They would not permit any cessation of his
dancing till he had danced himself into a perfect sweat, so that the
drops fell from his lank and flaxen hair. But Israel, with much of the
gentleness of the dove, is not wholly without the wisdom of the serpent.
Pleased to see the flowing bowl, he congratulates himself that his own
state of perspiration prevents it from producing any intoxicating effect
upon him.
Late at night the company break up. Furnished with a pair of handcuffs,
the prisoner is laid on a blanket spread upon the floor at the side of
the bed in which his two keepers are to repose. Expressing much
gratitude for the blanket, with apparent unconcern, Israel stretches his
legs. An hour or two passes. All is quiet without.
The important moment had now arrived. Certain it was, that if this
chance were suffered to pass unimproved, a second would hardly present
itself. For early, doubtless, on the following morning, if not some way
prevented, the two soldiers would convey Israel back to his floating
prison, where he would thenceforth remain confined until the close of
the war; years and years, perhaps. When he thought of that horrible old
hulk, his nerves were restrung for flight. But intrepid as he must be to
compass it, wariness too was needed. His keepers had gone to bed pretty
well under the influence of the liquor. This was favorable. But still,
they were full-grown, strong men; and Israel was handcuffed. So Israel
resolved upon strategy first; and if that failed, force afterwards. He
eagerly listened. One of the drunken soldiers muttered in his sleep, at
first lowly, then louder and louder,--"Catch 'em! Grapple 'em! Have at
'em! Ha--long cutlasses! Take that, runaway!"
"What's the matter with ye, Phil?" hiccoughed the other, who was not yet
asleep. "Keep quiet, will ye? Ye ain't at Fontenoy now."
"He's a runaway prisoner, I say. Catch him, catch him!"
"Oh, stush with your drunken dreaming," again hiccoughed his comrade,
violently nudging him. "This comes o' carousing."
Shortly after, the dreamer with loud snores fell back into dead sleep.
But by something in the sound of the breathing of the other soldier,
Israel knew that this man remained uneasily awake. He deliberated a
moment what was best to do. At length he determined upon trying his old
plea. Calling upon the two soldiers, he informed them that urgent
necessity required his immediate presence somewhere in the rear of the
house.
"Come, wake up here, Phil," roared the soldier who was awake; "the
fellow here says he must step out; cuss these Yankees; no better
edication than to be gettin' up on nateral necessities at this time
o'night. It ain't nateral; its unnateral. D---n ye, Yankee, don't ye
know no better?"
With many more denunciations, the two now staggered to their feet, and
clutching hold of Israel, escorted him down stairs, and through a long,
narrow, dark entry; rearward, till they came to a door. No sooner
was this unbolted by the foremost guard, than, quick as a flash,
manacled Israel, shaking off the grasp of the one behind him, butts him
sprawling back into the entry; when, dashing in the opposite direction,
he bounces the other head over heels into the garden, never using a
hand; and then, leaping over the latter's head, darts blindly out into
the midnight. Next moment he was at the garden wall. No outlet was
discoverable in the gloom. But a fruit-tree grew close to the wall.
Springing into it desperately, handcuffed as he was, Israel leaps atop
of the barrier, and without pausing to see where he is, drops himself to
the ground on the other side, and once more lets grow all his wings.
Meantime, with loud outcries, the two baffled drunkards grope
deliriously about in the garden.
After running two or three miles, and hearing no sound of pursuit,
Israel reins up to rid himself of the handcuffs, which impede him. After
much painful labor he succeeds in the attempt. Pressing on again with
all speed, day broke, revealing a trim-looking, hedged, and beautiful
country, soft, neat, and serene, all colored with the fresh early tints
of the spring of 1776.
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