198 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



other, so that it might not be easy to tear them up. 

 We left, as you see, a space of five yards between the 

 stockade and the house, so that we might have room 

 to move about in. It would be necessary for an 

 enemy to take the palisades before he could do any 

 injury to the house itself, and we reckoned that with 

 six good rifles in such hands as ours, it would require 

 a pretty many Spanish musketeers to drive us from 

 our outer defences. 



" In six weeks all was ready; all our tools and ra- 

 tions, except what we wanted for daily use, carried 

 into the fort, and we stood contemplating the. work of 

 our hands with much satisfaction. Asa was the only 

 one Avho seemed cast down. 



" ' I've a notion,' said he, ' this blockhouse will be 

 a bloody one before long ; and what's more, I guess it 

 will be the blood of one of us that'll redden it. I've 

 a sort of feelin' of it, and of who it'll be.' 



" ' Pho ! Asa, what notions be these 1 Keep a light 

 heart, man.' 



" And Asa seemed to cheer up again, and the next 

 day we returned to working in the fields ; but as we 

 were not using the horses, one of us went every morn- 

 ing to patrol ten or twelve miles backwards and for- 

 wards, just for precaution's sake. At night two of 

 us kept watch, relieving one another, and patrolling 

 about the neighbourhood of our clearing. 



" One morning we were working in the bush and 

 circling trees, when Righteous rode up at full gallop. 



