The Ely miner., 1929-11-29

from the floor so that l could move
about two PAGES to the right and left.
An iron gfrdle as broad as my hand
was locked round my naked body, to
two feet long, at the opposite ends
Of which my hands were fastened in
heavy iron rings bolted and riveted
over my wrists. l was left sitting in
gloomy darkness upon the wet floor.
"By degrees accustomed myself to
my chains. l learned to comb my hair
and even to tie it with one hand. My
beard plucked out the pain was ter
rife"
But Trenck does not succumb to
everlasting gloom. Neither that nor
loneliness, nor the misery of bearing
half his weight in dead iron, nor the
seeming hOpelessness of his situation
can break that dauntless spirit. With
in day after reaching the Star-FOrt
he is contriving means to remove and
replace his fetters at will. He ham,
mers the iron pegs of his handouts un-
til the blood streams from under his
nails, but eventually the rivets become
loosened and he may free both wrists.
By main strength he snaps two links
of the chain which binds him to the
severed ends together with a scrap of
hair ribbon. He wrests away the
short chain which fastens his arm-bar
to his iron belt. When his keepers
call, he is squatted on the floor, ap-
parently hobbled at wrist and ankle
and waist. But no sooner is the door
closed behind them than he has the
use Of his limbs.
Defiance Against Odds.
In less than forty-eight hours he has
accomplished these seemingly impossi-
BILE undertakings. He goes straight
way to a yet more herculean task.
Within the space of the next six hours
he has, with his knife, dug the wood
from about the lock on the inner door.
He decides that, given whole day, he
probably can master the bolts Of the
three remaining doors. On the Fourth
of July he begins the task. Read what
he says:
"This. with great labor, | accom-
plished but found it more difficult as
everything was to be done by cropping
in the dark. Soon my fingers were all
wounds, the sweat streamed on the
ground and the raw flesh hung bleed
ing to my, hands,"
Nevertheless he perseveres. The
fourth door has been attacked; its
tough oak has been whitfield through
when the knife snaps, its blade fall
ing through the hole into the ditch of
the lofty rampant on beyond.
at is utterly impossible to describe
my WEAKNESS. My blood dyed the
walls and the floor. and but little re-
manned in my veins. My wounds panied
me: my hands were stiff and swollen
with my excessive labor; l have been
without sleep; had scarcely strength
to stand upright. AS soon as it was
noon and the head keeper came with
his men. they found me standing op-
pOsite the inner door, a most frightful
figure, covered with blood, like a des-
perado. In one hand I held a huge
brick, in the other my broken knife,
and l cried out, Keep back! Keep
back Major, shoot me. No man shall
enter, I will sIay fifty of you, ere one
gets in
A parley follows. Finally Trenck
capitulates on condition that he is to
have better treatment. The pledge is
given, only to be broken. AS soon as
he gives up. his irons are renewed;
this time they are heavier and stouter
than before. ...
He does not despair, though. In
this mans nature there is never any
thought of surrender. He wins over
a grenadier of the fortress and this
man slips him file. With it he files
his fetters, hiding the cut places with
dough which he has moistened in spit
tie and then coated with earth.
He fabricates a screwdriver from a
ten-inch nail pried out of the floor.
He unscrews the grating at his win
dow and with smuggled wire he makes
a false grating identical with the orig
inaI but removable at will. By grind
ing his arm-bar against his own tomb
stone he forms a chisel with which he
gouges through nine inches of three
ply oak flooring. Burrowing like a
mole, he has penetrated several yards
of the sandy loan upon which the
huildino stands hpforp hp oncn moro
is detected.
A Fresh Attempt.
His head keeper vows that this time
he will render the prisoner helpless.
After renewing Trenck's former
shackles, the jailer brings smiths who
weld about his neck an iron collar an
inch thick and four finger breadths in