So profoundly disgusted was he at this attempt to draw from him services which he deemed dishonorable, that he resigned his employment as a guide, and withdrew to a distant part of the country; and, it was not till after the expiration of several months, and after much entreaty that he consented to return and resume his situation. Once during the war Oakley was taken prisoner and con-fined along with his brother Isaac in the old Sugar House, but after a while effected his escape. At his request, some friends in New York City, furnished him with citizens clothes, where-upon he laid aside his military dress and announced to his brother his resolution of regaining his liberty. Averse to this proceeding, his brother endeavoured long but unsuccess-fully to convince our guide that the attempt would be fool-hardy, and that he could never be able to pass the British lines without discovery. He left the prison about noon, upon an extremely hot day of summer. By cutting one or two blankets in slips, he obtained materials out of which he twisted and prepared a robe, and by this, with the assistance of his

92 THE MCDONALD PAPERS fellow prisoners he was lowered from one of the upper stories into the street, the attention of the sentinels in the mean-while being directed to an opposite quarter by his friends, who pointed down the street, and inquire the meaning of the crowd of people there assembled. The rope was instantly drawn back, and the manoeuvre proved successful and unob-served. His first object was to reach a public house at the head of Harlem Lane, kept by the Widow Day, with whom he was well acquainted. It was about the middle of the after-noon when he presented himself to this well known and ben-evolent landlady, and threw himself upon her protection as an old acquaintance.