We had been settled but a few weeks, when one morning Lieutenant Davies appeared just as we were sitting down to breakfast, with a face full of consternation. “The Indian prisoners had escaped from the black-hole!  The commanding officer, Colonel Cutler, had sent for Mr. Kinzie to come over to the Fort and counsel with him what was to be done.”

The prisoners had probably commenced their operations very soon after being placed in the black-hole, a dungeon in the basement of the guard-house.  They observed that their meals were brought regularly, three times a day, and that in the intervals they were left entirely to themselves.  With their knives they commenced excavating an opening, the earth from which, as it was withdrawn, they spread about on the floor of their prison.  A blanket was placed over the hole, and one of the company was always seated upon it, before the regular time for the soldier who had charge of them to make his appearance.  When the periodical visit was made, the Indians were always observed to be seated, smoking in the most orderly and quiet manner.  There was never anything in their appearance to excite suspicion.

The prisoners had never read the memoirs of Baron Trenck, but they had watched the proceedings of the badgers; so, profiting by their example, they worked on, shaping the opening spirally, until, in about six weeks, they came out to the open air beyond the walls of the Fort.

That they might be as little encumbered as possible in their flight, they left their blankets behind them, and although it was bitter December weather, they took to the woods and prairies with only their calico shirts and leggings for covering.  We can readily believe that hope and exultation kept them comfortably warm until they reached an asylum among their friends.

It would be compromising our own reputation as loyal and patriotic citizens to tell of the secret rejoicing this news occasioned us.

The question now was, how to get the fugitives back again.  The Agent could promise no more than that he would communicate with the chiefs, and represent the wishes of the officers that the prisoners should once more surrender themselves, and thus free those who had had the charge of them from the imputation of carelessness, which the Government would be very likely to throw upon them.

When, according to their custom, many of the chiefs assembled at the Agency on New-Year’s Day, their Father laid the subject before them.

The Indians replied, that if they saw the young men they would tell them what the officers would like to have them do.  They could, themselves, do nothing in the matter.  They had fulfilled their engagement by bringing them once and putting them in the hands of the officers.  The Government had had them in its power once and could not keep them—­it must now go and catch them itself.

The Government, having had some experience the past summer in “catching Indians,” wisely concluded to drop the matter.