Miss Prescott, accordingly, was installed in their lodge, where the
first day was passed without anything of note occurring, save the
discovery, on her part, of the total hopelessness of escape, without
the assistance of friends. There was but one entrance to the lodge,
of barely sufficient width to afford the passage of Hans Vanderbum's
body, and the sides of the wigwam were too strong and firm for
her to think either of piercing or breaking them. Added to this,
Keewaygooshturkumkankangewock at night laid herself directly before
this entrance, compelling Hans Vanderbum to lie down beside her, so
that their united width was some four or five feet--rather too long a
step to be taken by the girl without danger of awaking her jailers.
When we add that Keewaygooshturkumkankangewock's slumbers were so light
that the least noise awakened her, and that Miss Prescott never lay
down to sleep without having her ankles bound together, no more need be
said to convince the reader that the ingenuity of her captors could not
have made her situation more secure. Nevertheless, Hans Vanderbum
managed to convey enough to her to keep hope alive in her breast, and
to convince her that it would not be long before some enterprise for
her freedom would be attempted by her friends.
On the second morning of her captivity, Hans Vanderbum awoke at an
unusually early hour, and the first thought that entered his mind was
that he had an appointment with Oonomoo, the Huron; for it is a fact,
to which all will bear witness, that, by fixing our thoughts upon any
particular time in the night, with a determined intensity, we are sure
to awaken at that moment.
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