" In short, the result proved, in the case of this lad,
as similar experiments have since proved in so many other instances, the
difficulty of tempting one trained in the freedom and ease of a savage, to
consent to admit of the restraints of a state of being that is commonly
thought to be so much superior. In every instance in which the youthful
captive had liberty of choice, he disdainfully rejected the customs of the
whites; adhering with a singular, and almost heroic pertinacity to the
usages of his people and his condition.
The boy was not kept in his bondage without extraordinary care. Once, when
trusted in the fields, he had openly attempted to escape; nor was the
possession of his person recovered without putting the speed of Eben
Dudley and Reuben Ring to a more severe trial, as was confessed by the
athletic young borderers themselves, than any they had hitherto undergone.
From that moment, he was never permitted to pass the palisadoes. When
duty called the laborers afield, the captive was invariably secured in his
prison, where, as some compensation for his confinement, he was supposed
to enjoy the benefit of long and familiar communication with Mark
Heathcote, who had the habit of passing many hours of each day, and, not
unfrequently long portions of the night, too, within the retirement of the
block-house.
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