Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-04-22

I'd to act without the rest and, accordingly,
The first time they were taken out of the fort
together, to assist in some common service, they
-prung from the ranks, at Il concerted signal,
md "put," as the phrase is in the West. The
guards, started, and less fleet of foot, could not
catch them; and though Jacob fell and
'prained his ankle, he managed, under cover of
5ho smoke produced by the gunshots made at
5hem, to hide themselves in clump Of bushes,
which his pursuers did not think of searching.
1t had been agreed previously between the
that in casa Of separation, they were
TO meet at known spot at ten o'clock at
night
Jacob the lame one, mistook the hour, and
having gone to the spot and not finding his
brother there, he left it wit the intention of
getting as far from the fort as possible before
daylight, his accident making time especially
to him. He accordingly pushed up
the western bank Of the Sorel river towards
Lake Champlain, intending to swim it just be-
low the lake, and then find his way towards the
eastern shore. Various events, however, oc-
Cured to prevent his doing this but after run
ming great risk by putting himself within
the power of a Tory, whose chief excellence
seems to have been the possession of most kind
and fearless wife, he was SO lucky as to find
canoe, of which he took charge, and in which
he made good headway towards home, until in
one of the narrow passes Of Champlain, the
British fortfcations, on both sides, forced him
to leave his vessel and take to the woods again.
At this time he was witout shoes, foodor gun
and had to find his way to Albany through an
unknown wilderness along the Vermont shore.
For four days he lived entirely on birch bark;
he then managed to catch a few fish and a duck,
which he eat raw ; thus he labored on for ten
days. His feet, meantime had become terribly
cut, and We're bleeding at every stop, so that he
could hardly crawl, and if he stopped to rest
one moment, swarms of musquitos settled upon
him and stung him into madness.
While thus reduced to the EXTREMIST misery,
making his way as best he could on his hands
and knees, nearly blind from swelling and in
formation, and surrounded byvoracious insects.
eager for their prey, he heard the sharp, his
sing sound which indicated the presence Of a
still moro dreaded enemy-a rattlesnake. There
was no possibility of escape closed in on every
side, unable to move, he saw the glittering eye
of his scaly pursuer fasten itself upon him
without the powsr to save himself from his
angs. A moment and its sharp teeth were
buried deep in the shuddering flesh, and it had
coiled its venomous form round his leg. An
other and his jack-knife had dispatched the
reptile, laid open the veins in his limb and cut
out the parts which its poison had penetrated {;
then, with the instinct of heroism, turning to
account the most frightful accidents of his po-
sition he cut out the heart, which he ate and
felt strengthened and somewhat reanimated
For day or two then, he lay beside a log
in the forrest, in q condition which it would
seem few men could survive worn to skel-
eton, his feet torn to pieces, suffering from a
terrible wound he still managed to collecta lit
tie dry fungus, and cooked and ate part of the
rattlesnake, until his strength was entirely ex-
hausted, and he was unable to get wood to
cook the remainder. 1t seems now as if death
could not be postponed. lie took his knife and
tried to carve his epitaph on the log, but while
thus engaged he fell asleep, and dreamed a
sweet delicious dream of his old home, his
young wife and their infant child, and finally
of his deceased mother, who appeared dressed
in a robe of flowing white, and stretched her
arms towards him with sweet smile, and an
indcscribable gesture full of grace and tender
ness.
He knew not how long he slept, but when he
rose it was with renewed strength, and making
sandals Of his hat and vest, he proceeded Oh
his way once more, taking with him the un-
consumed portion of the snake as provision
That night his mother again appeared to him
and pointed in particular direction, smiling
hopefully. Rising with a strong faith that he
was nearly at tho end of his pcrlous journey
he struggled on until the afternoon, when he
saw for the first time human habtation i
proved to be the house Of a friend, from whence
he proceeded to Albany and thence to Scbenec
tady. Here he found his wife and child living
with some relatives, and the meeting betweer
them may be imagined. but no pen could de
scribe it. For long time she had suffered al
the horrors of the most fearful suspense, and j
was not until the night upon which he haC
{ seen his mother that she obtained glimpse o
, relief On this occasion she dreamed that sh,
saw him striving to make his way through
dense wood towards her, while white hanC
appeared to be lifting aside the thick branchc
to aid his progress. When she awoke it wa
with the firm belief that they would be eventu
: ally reunited, as the event proved.
Return we now to Frederick, who suifere,
. even more than his brother.
, lie had made many efforts to no purpose
to find Jacob, who, when he fell, would no
$ permit Frederick to stop and help him, and i
seeking him had run many risks. At lcngt
he crossed the sorel, killed an OK, made som
jerked beef and for seven day travelled alon
+, eastern shore Of the Champlam without i
s luck. But on the morning of the eighth day h
d awoke sick a plcurisy was upon him-a fever
: his veins-pain in every limb. 1t began to rail-
r also, and there he lay this other young her,
: not far froin his brother, who at that very mt
ment, in that very neighborhood, was nursin
0 his rattlesnake bite there he lay, KNOWN
: not that any one was near him, for three day
: on the earth, in the summer rain, and h
blood all on fire. For three days, we say, he la
= thus helpless. On the fourth day he was bette
c and tried to cat little of his beef, but it WI
n snoiled He MANAGED however to crawl to