Similar thoughts must have been in my comrade’s mind; for when I had counted up to thirty, and then waited ten seconds to give fair measure, he clutched my arm as if advising that we remain yet a little longer. And so we did, standing there hand in hand, looking toward the narrow aperture through which lay home and freedom. While we thus hesitated there came into my mind the fear that after we gained the outside some of the more kindly hearted Britishers would enter the prison-pen in order to bring us coverings, lest we freeze to death; and I literally shivered with dread, fearing so much of charity might be bestowed upon us. Then, when we had waited fully two minutes, I could restrain my impatience and my nervousness no longer. Surely the very beating of my heart would betray us unless flight was begun at once. I dared not so much as whisper, so great was the fear of discovery upon me, and pressing Alec’s hand yet more vigorously, I pointed to the aperture. He, understanding the gesture, motioned for me to go ahead; but that I would not do, and rather than play so cowardly a part as to seek my own safety first, I ventured upon speech:-- “You shall lead the way, Alec, lad,” I whispered, my voice trembling despite every effort to render it steady; “and if it so be that when you have gained the outside the Britishers enter here, I beseech you to strain every muscle in the attempt to escape, regardless of what they may be doing to me.” “I will never leave a comrade alone in danger,” he said stoutly; and for a moment it seemed as if we should come to a quarrel then and there, while halting ’twixt liberty and imprisonment. “You must leave me, should the flight be discovered before I am out of here,” I said earnestly, gripping his arm so hard that twenty-four hours later I saw the imprints of my fingers upon the flesh where the blood had settled. “It is neither your life nor mine that is to be considered now, but the safety of Presque Isle; and I charge you, dear lad, make your way to the settlement without loss of time, once you are free. I pledge myself to do the same, leaving you wherever it may be that we are halted by the enemy, in order to save the village and the vessels, upon which so much of our country’s safety depends.” Now he understood what I would have him bear well in mind, and whispered:-- “One or the other of us must live to reach the village; but I pray earnestly, Dicky, that if either falls, it be me.” This sort of a conversation was not calculated to make a timorous fellow overly bold, and I realized at once that an end must be put to it, else we might become so faint-hearted as to retreat even before the advance was begun. Therefore, clasping him by the legs, I lifted him straight up until his head and shoulders were through the aperture; and then, pushing at his feet, I literally forced him out of the pen.