{"id":"01KG8AKFNGZTDCVDF0SRWAFSKA","cid":"bafkreigpcqh4gli5epbvop7mxtqky255pfi5xctq2wepds4pqna7se4nly","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":394,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:05.590Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","start_line":340,"text":"was not alone owing to the newness of the country, but to the perils\r\ninvesting it. Not only was it a wilderness abounding with wild beasts,\r\nbut the widely-scattered inhabitants were in continual dread of being,\r\nat some unguarded moment, destroyed or made captive by the Canadian\r\nsavages, who, ever since the French war, had improved every opportunity\r\nto make forays across the defenceless frontier.\r\n\r\nHis employer proving false to his contract in the matter of the land,\r\nand there being no law in the country to force him to fulfil it,\r\nIsrael—who, however brave-hearted, and even much of a dare-devil upon a\r\npinch, seems nevertheless to have evinced, throughout many parts of his\r\ncareer, a singular patience and mildness—was obliged to look round for\r\nother means of livelihood than clearing out a farm for himself in the\r\nwilderness. A party of royal surveyors were at this period surveying\r\nthe unsettled regions bordering the Connecticut river to its source. At\r\nfifteen shillings per month, he engaged himself to this party as\r\nassistant chain-bearer, little thinking that the day was to come when\r\nhe should clank the king’s chains in a dungeon, even as now he trailed\r\nthem a free ranger of the woods. It was midwinter; the land was\r\nsurveyed upon snow-shoes. At the close of the day, fires were kindled\r\nwith dry hemlock, a hut thrown up, and the party ate and slept.\r\n\r\nPaid off at last, Israel bought a gun and ammunition, and turned\r\nhunter. Deer, beaver, etc., were plenty. In two or three months he had\r\nmany skins to show. I suppose it never entered his mind that he was\r\nthus qualifying himself for a marksman of men. But thus were tutored\r\nthose wonderful shots who did such execution at Bunker’s Hill; these,\r\nthe hunter-soldiers, whom Putnam bade wait till the white of the\r\nenemy’s eye was seen.\r\n\r\nWith the result of his hunting he purchased a hundred acres of land,\r\nfurther down the river, toward the more settled parts; built himself a\r\nlog hut, and in two summers, with his own hands, cleared thirty acres\r\nfor sowing. In the winter seasons he hunted and trapped. At the end of\r\nthe two years, he sold back his land—now much improved—to the original\r\nowner, at an advance of fifty pounds. He conveyed his cash and furs to\r\nCharlestown, on the Connecticut (sometimes called No. 4), where he\r\ntrafficked them away for Indian blankets, pigments, and other showy\r\narticles adapted to the business of a trader among savages. It was now\r\nwinter again. Putting his goods on a hand-sled, he started towards\r\nCanada, a peddler in the wilderness, stopping at wigwams instead of\r\ncottages. One fancies that, had it been summer, Israel would have\r\ntravelled with a wheelbarrow, and so trundled his wares through the\r\nprimeval forests, with the same indifference as porters roll their\r\nbarrows over the flagging of streets. In this way was bred that\r\nfearless self-reliance and independence which conducted our forefathers\r\nto national freedom.\r\n\r\nThis Canadian trip proved highly successful. Selling his glittering\r\ngoods at a great advance, he received in exchange valuable peltries and\r\nfurs at a corresponding reduction. Returning to Charlestown, he\r\ndisposed of his return cargo again at a very fine profit. And now, with\r\na light heart and a heavy purse, he resolved to visit his sweetheart\r\nand parents, of whom, for three years, he had had no tidings.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJHFM4S3HHFVTHGZ033WY","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKFNHP8AF3S687QV4BRCT","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKFNHAZF9EKV88SHM1BHE","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:05.808Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:12.892Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}