Page:Statement of the attempted rescue of General Lafayette from Olmutz.djvu/34

 silk neck handkerchief of his, which he had prepared before hand, having printed on the inside a few words with a bit of white mortar taken from his wall, he showed the young woman this handkerchief, and asked her to take it up to his friend and show him the three knots he put in it before her, saying she could judge; it could do no harm to her, or any human being, to show that knotted handkerchief, and she agreed, being amused, apparently, at being taught to say an English word, and repeat “Examine,” when she gave it to him. This was done, and somehow Dr. Bollman got a little scrap of dingy paper, sent Huger, and shortly afterwards let down a little ink in a walnut shell from the window above, which he reached with some difficulty, and the following letter was written on the scrap of paper, directed “Mr. Pinckney, American Minister, London.” It was put into another cover by the jailor, and redirected, (and is now extant):

“I have just a moment to inform you of my health, and entreat you to write to my mother, and enclose this scrap of paper for her comfort. Our sentence is not yet known, though I have been flattered with the hope of being shortly free. Mr. Bollman is in the same prison, but has been prevented from giving full