The hempen fetters really hurt him a little, but it was partly because of the chair.
"May be I can kick it out from under me," he said to himself, "and loosen the ropes."
Out it came, after a tug, and then Jack could stand up.
"I might climb on the bed, now the ropes are loose," he said, "and lift the loops over the post. Then I could crawl out of 'em."
He was excited, and worked quickly. In a moment he was standing in the middle of the room, with only his hands tied behind him.
"I can cut that cord," he thought, "if I can find a nail in the wall."
He easily found several, and one of them had a rough edge on the head of it, and after a few minutes of hard sawing, the cord was severed.
"It's easy to saw twine," said he. "Now for the next thing."
He went to the window and looked out into the darkness.
"I'm over the roof of the kitchen," he said, "and that tree's close to it."