Which of the following excerpts from the passage supports the main character's motive for his actions?
a) "if i could free my hands," he thought, "i might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. by diving i could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home. my home, god, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance."
b) "circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with that gallant army which had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of corinth, and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction.
c) all that day he traveled, laying his course by the rounding sun. the forest seemed interminable; nowhere did he discover a break in it, not even a woodman's road. he had not known that he lived in so wild a region. there was something uncanny in the revelation.
d) all is as he left it, and all bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine. he must have traveled the entire night. as he pushes open the gate and passes up the wide white walk, he sees a flutter of female garments; his wife, looking fresh and cool and sweet, steps down from the veranda to meet him.