{"id":"01KG8AKG9BG6DDV036NJ7ED1WP","cid":"bafkreid2y7355n3kom5f2t4prih7hriykt7njm44pb5m4zldessvlpzswq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":726,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:05.590Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","start_line":655,"text":"his own state of perspiration prevents it from producing any\r\nintoxicating effect upon him.\r\n\r\nLate at night the company break up. Furnished with a pair of handcuffs,\r\nthe prisoner is laid on a blanket spread upon the floor at the side of\r\nthe bed in which his two keepers are to repose. Expressing much\r\ngratitude for the blanket, with apparent unconcern, Israel stretches\r\nhis legs. An hour or two passes. All is quiet without.\r\n\r\nThe important moment had now arrived. Certain it was, that if this\r\nchance were suffered to pass unimproved, a second would hardly present\r\nitself. For early, doubtless, on the following morning, if not some way\r\nprevented, the two soldiers would convey Israel back to his floating\r\nprison, where he would thenceforth remain confined until the close of\r\nthe war; years and years, perhaps. When he thought of that horrible old\r\nhulk, his nerves were restrung for flight. But intrepid as he must be\r\nto compass it, wariness too was needed. His keepers had gone to bed\r\npretty well under the influence of the liquor. This was favorable. But\r\nstill, they were full-grown, strong men; and Israel was handcuffed. So\r\nIsrael resolved upon strategy first; and if that failed, force\r\nafterwards. He eagerly listened. One of the drunken soldiers muttered\r\nin his sleep, at first lowly, then louder and louder,—“Catch ’em!\r\nGrapple ’em! Have at ’em! Ha—long cutlasses! Take that, runaway!”\r\n\r\n“What’s the matter with ye, Phil?” hiccoughed the other, who was not\r\nyet asleep. “Keep quiet, will ye? Ye ain’t at Fontenoy now.”\r\n\r\n“He’s a runaway prisoner, I say. Catch him, catch him!”\r\n\r\n“Oh, stush with your drunken dreaming,” again hiccoughed his comrade,\r\nviolently nudging him. “This comes o’ carousing.”\r\n\r\nShortly after, the dreamer with loud snores fell back into dead sleep.\r\nBut by something in the sound of the breathing of the other soldier,\r\nIsrael knew that this man remained uneasily awake. He deliberated a\r\nmoment what was best to do. At length he determined upon trying his old\r\nplea. Calling upon the two soldiers, he informed them that urgent\r\nnecessity required his immediate presence somewhere in the rear of the\r\nhouse.\r\n\r\n“Come, wake up here, Phil,” roared the soldier who was awake; “the\r\nfellow here says he must step out; cuss these Yankees; no better\r\nedication than to be gettin’ up on nateral necessities at this time\r\no’night. It ain’t nateral; its unnateral. D—-n ye, Yankee, don’t ye\r\nknow no better?”\r\n\r\nWith many more denunciations, the two now staggered to their feet, and\r\nclutching hold of Israel, escorted him down stairs, and through a long,\r\nnarrow, dark entry; rearward, till they came to a door. No sooner was\r\nthis unbolted by the foremost guard, than, quick as a flash, manacled\r\nIsrael, shaking off the grasp of the one behind him, butts him\r\nsprawling back into the entry; when, dashing in the opposite direction,\r\nhe bounces the other head over heels into the garden, never using a\r\nhand; and then, leaping over the latter’s head, darts blindly out into\r\nthe midnight. Next moment he was at the garden wall. No outlet was\r\ndiscoverable in the gloom. But a fruit-tree grew close to the wall.\r\nSpringing into it desperately, handcuffed as he was, Israel leaps atop\r\nof the barrier, and without pausing to see where he is, drops himself\r\nto the ground on the other side, and once more lets grow all his wings.\r\nMeantime, with loud outcries, the two baffled drunkards grope\r\ndeliriously about in the garden.\r\n\r\nAfter running two or three miles, and hearing no sound of pursuit,\r\nIsrael reins up to rid himself of the handcuffs, which impede him.\r\nAfter much painful labor he succeeds in the attempt. Pressing on again\r\nwith all speed, day broke, revealing a trim-looking, hedged, and\r\nbeautiful country, soft, neat, and serene, all colored with the fresh\r\nearly tints of the spring of 1776.\r\n\r\nBless me, thought Israel, all of a tremble, I shall certainly be caught\r\nnow; I have broken into some nobleman’s park.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJHFMCDZKHPXTDK6NQM6D","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKG99TQ16HNKC28ED1T1G","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKG995473EF9K5FJ3EKR0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:06.443Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:12.870Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}