If it were to be done at all, they must be my helpers.

To tell them of my designed escape while I was still in bonds, would be to lay before them a most difficult choice.

What they might do in such a case, I could not in the least be sure of, for (the same case arising) I was far from sure what I should do myself.

It was plain I must escape first.
When the harm was done, when I was no more than a poor wayside fugitive, I might apply to them with less offence and more security.

To this end it became necessary that I should find out where they lived and how to reach it; and feeling a strong confidence that they would soon return to visit me, I prepared a series of baits with which to angle for my information.