Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/130

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��114 LIFE IN JAVA.

libertj', he entered lieartily into all her schemes, without reflecting on the risk to which the devoted girl was ex})osing herself. She accordingly sup- plied him with a file, and a small quantity of wax, mixed with some dark adhesive substance, the ob- ject of which will presently be seen.

In the dead of night, when all around were hashed in sleep, the poor prisoner, roused to energy by this ray of hope, set to work to file the chains which encircled his ankles, working by fits and starts, in order that the sounds, if heard by a chance passer-by, might be regarded as the buzz or whirr of some iusect or night bird. Each night, after he had done working, having rubbed the pre- ])ared Avax into the palms of his hands, he filled the groove he had made, thus escaping detection by daylight.

When, at last, the chains were ground down so fine that the slightest ])ressure would release his feet, a night was arranged for their hazardous

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