A FAR ADVENTURE 291 



was, so far as every precaution could make it, 

 really cat-proof. It consisted of a strong fence 

 of woven netting five feet high. This, of course, 

 would not have kept out cats, but Shan had nailed 

 a light thin upright pole to every fence-post and 

 stretched fish-nets loosely from pole to pole. 



For miles around, from every cabin or shack 

 where a fisherman lived, Shan had gone to ask 

 for a contribution of any old, ragged netting which 

 had been thrown away and was rotting in a shed 

 or on the ground. North Carolina fishermen are 

 wasteful, and buy new nets rather than give them- 

 selves the trouble to mend old ones. Shan's re- 

 quests had necessitated an explanation of the pur- 

 pose for which the old nets were to be used, with 

 the result that '^ Bull's Sanctuary" was becoming 

 well known, up and down the coast and the Sound 

 waters. 



Moreover, the people of the neighborhood felt 

 a strong sympathy with Shan, largely because of 

 the stand he had taken with regard to Ned Thomp- 

 son, after the death of Bull. 



One of the men, a Justice of the Peace, had come 

 to the cabin, the day after the funeral, to signify 

 his willingness to give Shan a warrant for the ar- 

 rest of Ned Thompson, if the boy wanted to swear 



