but he was a man of more resources than i knew; searched the wood until he found the quill of a cushat-dove, which he shaped into a pen; made himself a kind of ink with gunpowder from his horn and water from the running stream; and tearing a corner from his french military commission -lrb- which he carried in his pocket, like a talisman to keep him from the gallows -rrb-, he sat down and wrote as follows: " dear kinsman, -- please send the money by the bearer to the place he kens of.