CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAPTER I.
RODNEY UNHAPPY IN A GOOD HOME 7

CHAPTER II.
REVOLVING AND RESOLVING 18

CHAPTER III.
RODNEY IN NEW YORK 26

CHAPTER IV.
RODNEY FINDS A PATRON 33

CHAPTER V.
RODNEY IN PHILADELPHIA 44

CHAPTER VI.
THE PUNISHMENT BEGINS 53

CHAPTER VII.
THE WATCH-HOUSE 60

CHAPTER VIII.
RODNEY IN JAIL 73

CHAPTER IX.
THE DUNGEON 88

CHAPTER X.
THE HOSPITAL 99

CHAPTER XI.
THE TRIAL 118

CHAPTER XII.
CONCLUSION 128

THE RUNAWAY.

CHAPTER I.

RODNEY UNHAPPY IN A GOOD HOME.

It was a lovely Sabbath morning in May, 1828, when two lads, the
elder of whom was about sixteen years old, and the younger about
fourteen, were wandering along the banks of a beautiful brook,
called the Buttermilk Creek, in the immediate vicinity of the city
of Albany, N. Y. Though there is no poetry in the name of this
little stream, there is sweet music made by its rippling waters, as
they rush rapidly along the shallow channel, fretting at the rocks
that obstruct its course, and racing toward a precipice, down which
it plunges, some thirty or forty feet, forming a light, feathery
cascade; and then, as if exhausted by the leap, creeping sluggishly
its little distance toward the broad Hudson. The white spray,
churned out by the friction against the air, and flung perpetually
upwards, suggested to our sires a name for this miniature Niagara;
and, without any regard for romance or euphony, they called it
Buttermilk Falls. It was a charming spot, notwithstanding its
homely name, before the speculative spirit of progress--stern foe
of Nature's beauties--had pushed the borders of the city close upon
the tiny cataract, hewed down the pines upon its banks, and opened
quarries among its rocks.

It was before this change had passed over the original
wilderness, that the lads whom we have mentioned were strolling,
in holy time, upon the banks of the little stream, above the
falls.

"Rodney," said the elder of the boys, "suppose your mother find