But to return to stout “Josh” Barney, now meditating thoughts of escape in old Mill Prison. Bold and resourceful he was always, and he was now determined to face the difficulties of an exit and the chances of detection. “I must and can get away,” he said.
The prisoners were accustomed to play leap-frog, and one day the crafty “Josh” pretended that he had sprained his ankle. Constructing two crutches—out of pieces of boards—he limped around the prison-yard and completely deceived all but a few of his most intimate friends.
One day—it was May the eighteenth, 1781—he passed a sentry near the inner gate. The fellow’s name was Sprokett and he had served in the British army in America, where he had received many kindnesses from the country people. For this reason his heart warmed to the stout, young “Josh,” who had often engaged him in conversation.
Hopping to the gate upon his crutches, the youthful American whispered,
“Give me a British uniform and I will get away. Can you do it?”
Sprokett smiled.
“Sure,” said he.
“To-day?”
“Dinner.”
And this meant one o’clock, when the warders dined.