THE PIG SIEGE. 101 



of pigs ; but it soon turned out no laughing 

 matter, for their patience was not, as I 

 expected, soon exhausted ; but they settled 

 round the tree, about twenty yards distant, 

 and kept looking up at me with their little 

 twinkling eyes, as much as to say, "we'll 

 have you yet." Having made up my mind 

 that a regular siege was intended, I began, as 

 an old soldier, to examine the state and 

 resources of the fortress, and also the chance 

 of relief from without, by raising the siege. 

 The defences consisted of four diverging 

 branches that afforded a safe asylum to the 

 garrison, provided it was watchful and did 

 not go to sleep ; the arms and ammunition, 

 " de guerre et de louche^^'' were a double-bar- 

 relled gun, a flask nearly full of powder, 

 plenty of copper caps, a few charges of shot, 

 but only two balls ; knife, flint, and steel, a 

 piece of hard dried tongue, a small flask of 

 spirits and water, and a good bundle of 

 cigars. As to relief from without, it was 

 hardly to be expected, although a broad trail 

 ran about half a mile from my perch ; and as 

 for a sally, it was quite out of the question ; 

 so I did as most persons would do in my si- 

 tuation, made myself as comfortable as possi- 

 ble, took a small sup from the flask, lit a 



