relieved during his guard, and returned, bringing with him a sheet of paper rolled on wire, which he passed through my grating: after which a piece of small wax candle, some burning amadoue (a kind of tinder) a match and pen. I now had light, pricked my finger, and wrote with my blood, to my faithful friend, captain Ruckhardt, at Vienna, describing my situation in a few words, sent him an acquittance for three thousand florins on my reve. nues, and requested he would dispose of a thousand forins to defray the expences of his journey to Gummern, only two miles from Magdeburg. Here he was positively to be on the 13th of August.— About noon, on this same day, he was to walk, with a letter in his hand; a man was there to meet him, smoking a roll of tobacco, to whom he must remit the two thousand florins, and return to Vienna.

1

I returned the written paper to Gefhardt by the same means it had been received, gave him my instructions, and he sent his wife with it to Gum mern, by whom it was safely put in the post.

My hopes daily rose, and as often as Gefhards mounted guard, so often did we continue our projects. The 13th of August came, but it was soine days before Gefhardt was again on guard; and oh! how did my heart palpitate when he came and exclaimed, "All is right! we have succeeded."— He returned in the evening, and we began to consider by what means he could convey the money to me. I could not, with my hands chained to an iron bar, reach to the aperture of the window that admitted air; besides that it was too small. It was therefore agreed that Gefhardt should, on the next guard, perform the office of cleaning my dun

geon, and that he then should convey the money to me in the water jug.

This, luckily, was done. How great was my astonishment, when, instead of one, I found two thousand florins! For I had permitted him to reserve half to himself, as a reward for his fidelity. He, however, had kept but five pistoles, which he persisted was enough.

Worthy Gefhardt! This was the act of a Pomeranian grenadier! How rare are such examples! Be thy name and mine ever united. Live thou, while the memory of me shall live. Never did my acquaintance with the great, bring to my knowledge a soul so noble, so disinterested!

It is true, I afterwards prevailed on him to accept the whole thousand; but we shall soon see he never had them, and that his foolish wife, three years after, suffered by their means; however, she suffered alone, for he soon marched to the field, and therefore was unpunished.

Having money to carry on my designs, I began to put my plan of burrowing under the foundation in execution. The first thing necessary was to free myself from my fetters. To accomplish this, Gefhardt supplied me with two small files, and by the aid of these, this labour, though great, was effected.

-The cap, or staple of the foot ring was made so wide, that I could draw it forward a quarter of an inch. I filed the iron which passed through it on the inside, and the more I filed this away, the further I could draw the cap down, till at last, the whole inside iron through which the chains passed, was quite cut through; by this means I could slip off the ring, while the cap on the outside con

tinued whole, and it was impossible to discover my cut, as only the out side could be examined.My hands, by continued efforts I so compressed, as to be able to draw them out of the handcuffs, I then filed the hinge, and made a screw driver of one of the foot long flooring nails, by which I could take out the screws at pleasure, so that at the time of examination no proofs could appear. The rim round my body was but a small impediment, except the chain, which passed from my hand bar, and this I removed by filing an aperture in one of the links, which at the necessary hour I closed with bread, rubbed over with rusty iron, first drying it by the heat of my body'; and would wager any sum, that, without striking the chain, link by link with a hammer, no one not in the secret would have discovered this fracture,

The window was never strictly examined: I therefore drew the staples by which the iron bars were fixed to the wall, and which I daily repla-' ced, carefully plaistering them over. I procured wire from Gefhardt, and tried how well I could imitate the inner grating: finding I succeeded tol erably, I cut the real grating totally away, and substituted an artificial one of my own fabricating, by which I obtained a free communication with the outside, additional fresh air, together with all necessary implements, tinder and candles. That the light might not be seen, I hung the coverlid of my bed before the window, so that I could work fearless and undetected.

Every thing prepared I went to work. The floor of my dungeon was not of stone, but of oak planks three inches thick: three beds of which laid crosswise, and wese fastened to each other by

mails half an inch in diameter, and a foot long.→ Having worked round the head of a nail, I made use of the hole at the end of the bar which separated my hands to draw it out; and this nail I sharpened upon my tomb-stone into an excellent chissel.

I now cut through the board more than an inch in width, that I might work downward—and having drawn away a piece of board which was inserted two inches under the wall, I cut this so as exactly to fit; the small crevice it occasioned I stopped up with bread, and strewed over with dust, so as to prevent all suspicious appearance. My labour under this was continued with less precaution, and I had soon worked through my nine inch plank. Under them I came to a fine white sand, on which the Star Fort was built. My chips I distributed beneath the board. If I had not help from without, I could proceed no further, for to dig were useless, unless I could rid myself of the rubbish.Gefhardt supplied me with some ells of cloth, of which I made long narrow bags, stuffed them with earth, and passed them between the iron bars to Gef hardt, who, as often as he was on guard, scattered or conveyed away their contents.

Furnished with room to secret them under the floor, I obtained more instruments, together with a pair of pistols, powder, ball, and a bayonet.

I now discovered that the foundation of my prison, instead of two, was sunk four feet deep.Time, labour, and patience were all necessary to break out, unheard and undiscovered; but few things are impossible where resolution is not wanting.

The hole I made was obliged to be four feet deep, corresponding with the foundation, and wide

enough to kneel and stoop in; the laying down on the floor to throw out the earth, and narrow space in which all must be performed, these made the labour incredible; and, after this daily labour, all things were to be replaced, and my chains again resumed, which alone required some hours to ef fect. My greatest aid was in the wax candles and light I had procured; but as Gefhart stood centinel only once a fortnight, my work was much delayed: the centinels were forbidden to speak to me under pain of death: and I was too fearful of being betrayed, to dare to seek new assistance.

Being without a stove, I suffered much this winter from cold, yet my heart was cheerful, as I saw the probably of freedom; and all were astonished to find me in such good spirits.

Gefhardt also brought me supplies of provisions, chiefly consisting of sausages and salt meats, ready dressed, which increased my strength; and when I was not digging I wrote satires and verses-thus time was employed, and I contented even in a prison.

While I was imprisoned in the citadel, a centinel came to the post under my window, cursed and blasphemed, exclaiming aloud-" Damn the Prussian service! If Trenck only knew my mind, he would not long continue in this infernal hole!" I entered into discourse with him, and he told me if I could give him money to purchase a boat, in which he could cross the Elbe, he would soon make my doors fly open.

Money at that time I had none; but I gave him a diamond shirt buckle, worth five hundred florins, which I had concealed. I never heard more from this man, he spoke to me no more, He often