I should say here, that his wife had been driven away by the small-pox panic about three o’clock, and had not yet returned; this left no one in the house, but a boy, about nine years of age.

As he went out, he spoke to the boy in Dutch, which I supposed, from the little fellow’s conduct, to be instructions to watch me closely, which he certainly did.

The potatoe lot was across the public road, directly in front of the house; at the back of the house, and about 300 yards distant, there was a thick wood.  The circumstances of the case would not allow me to think for one moment of remaining there for the night—­the time had come for another effort—­but there were two serious difficulties.  One was, that I must either deceive or dispatch this boy who is watching me with intense vigilance.  I am glad to say, that the latter did not for a moment seriously enter my mind.  To deceive him effectually, I left my coat and went to the back door, from which my course would be direct to the wood.  When I got to the door, I found that the barn, to which the waggon, must soon come, lay just to the right, and overlooking the path I must take to the wood.  In front of me lay a garden surrounded by a picket fence, to the left of me was a small gate, and that by passing through that gate would throw me into an open field, and give me clear running to the wood; but on looking through the gate, I saw that my captor, being with the team, would see me if I attempted to start before he moved from the position he then occupied.  To add to my difficulty the horses had baulked; while waiting for the decisive moment, the boy came to the door and asked me why I did not come in.  I told him I felt unwell, and wished him to be so kind as to hand me a glass of water; expecting while he was gone to get it, the team would clear, so that I could start.  While he was gone, another attempt was made to start the team but failed; he came with the water and I quickly used it up by gargling my throat and by drinking a part.  I asked him to serve me by giving me another glass:  he gave me a look of close scrutiny, but went in for the water.  I heard him fill the glass, and start to return with it; when the hind end of the waggon cleared the corner of the house, which stood in a range with the fence along which I was to pass in getting to the wood.  As I passed out the gate, I “squared my main yard,” and laid my course up the line of fence, I cast a last glance over my right shoulder, and saw the boy just perch his head above the garden picket to look after me; I heard at the same time great confusion with the team, the rain having made the ground slippery, and the horses having to cross the road with a slant and rise to get into the barn, it required great effort after they started to prevent their baulking.  I felt some assurance that although the boy might give the alarm, my captor could not leave the team until it was in the barn.  I heard the horses’ feet on the barn-floor, just as I leaped the fence, and darted into the wood.