a painful one. Canada, the land of Papist priests and bloody
Indians, was the especial terror of the New England settlers, and
the anathema maranatha(1) of Puritan pulpits. Thither the Indians
usually hurried their captives, where they compelled them to work
in their villages or sold them to the French planters. Escape from
thence through a deep wilderness, and across lakes, and mountains,
and almost impassable rivers, without food or guide, is regarded as
an impossibility. The poor boys, terrified by the prospect of being
carried still farther from their home and friends, began to dream of
escaping from their masters before they started for Canada. It was
now winter; it would have been little short of madness to have
chosen for flight that season of bitter cold and deep snows. Owing
to exposure and want of proper food and clothing, Isaac, the eldest
of the boys, was seized with a violent fever, from which he slowly
recovered in the course of the winter. His Indian mistress was as
kind to him as her circumstances permitted,--procuring medicinal
herbs and roots for her patient, and tenderly watching over him in
the long winter nights. Spring came at length; the snows melted;
and the ice was broken up on the lake. The Indians began to make
preparations for journeying to Canada; and Isaac, who had during
his sickness devised a plan of escape, saw that the time of putting it
in execution had come. On the evening before he was to make the
attempt he for the first time informed his younger companion of his
design, and told him, if he intended to accompany him, he must be
awake at the time appointed. The boys lay down as usual in the
wigwam in the midst of the family. Joseph soon fell asleep; but
Isaac, fully sensible of the danger and difficulty of the enterprise
before him, lay awake, watchful for his opportunity. About
midnight he rose, cautiously stepping over the sleeping forms of the
family, and securing, as he went, his Indian master's flint, steel, and