this undertaking than we were at all aware of; for though we could
with tolerable ease go from room to room within the house, still,
when we attempted to quit it, we found it every way surrounded
with so thick a brick wall, that it was impossible for us to make
our way through it: we therefore ran round and round it several
times, searching for some little crevice through which we might
escape; but all to no purpose, not the least crack could we
discover: and we might have continued there till this time, had
we not at length, after the family were in bed, resolved to
venture through one of the apartments into the hall, and so creep
out under the house door. But the dangers we exposed ourselves to
in this expedition were many and great; we knew that traps were
set for us about the house, and where they might chance to be
placed we could not tell. I had likewise been eye-witness to no
less than four cats, who might, for ought we knew to the contrary,
at that hour of darkness, be prowling in search of some of our
unhappy species.

But, in spite of every difficulty and hazard, we determined to
venture rather than continue in opposition to our mother's
commands; and, to reward our obedience, we escaped with trembling
hearts, unobserved, at least unmolested, by any one. And now, for
the first time since our birth, we found ourselves exposed to the
inclemency of the weather. The night was very dark and
tempestuous; the rain poured down in torrents; and the wind blew
so exceedingly high, that, low upon the ground as we were, it was
with difficulty that we could keep our legs: added to which, even
step we took, we were in water up to our stomachs. In this
wretched condition we knew not which way to turn ourselves, or
where to seek for shelter. The spattering of the rain, the