k,
and row off to their ship.

It was not till Colonel Preston and Mr Crayford had returned, full of
excitement, that the silence was broken by the General.

"Well, gentlemen," he said, "what have you to say?"

"God save the King!" said my father, enthusiastically.

"Then you will all fight in defence of your hearths and homes?"

A tremendous cheer was the answer.

"Well, then," said the General, "we must be prepared. I look upon it
all as an empty, insolent piece of bombast; but whatever it is, we must
not be taken unawares. Help shall be at once asked from England, and
meantime we must do all we can to place ourselves in a state of
defence."

"Well, George," said my father, as we walked back home, seeing the sails
of the Spaniard set, and that she was gliding slowly down the river,
"what have you to say to all this?"

"I should like to know whether the Spaniards will come back."

"Ah, that remains to be proved, my boy. We shall see."

"Not they," said Morgan, when I told him, and he was listening eagerly
to my account of what had taken place. "If we were Indians perhaps they
would; but we're Englishmen and Welshmen, look you. No, my lad, we're
more likely to see those Indians. Depend upon it, all that Spaniel said
was a bit of bounce."

CHAPTER TEN.

Those were busy times at the settlement, where the crops and everything
else were neglected so that all hands might work at the block-house, or
fort, it was determined to build, so as to have a place to flee to in
case of attack, and the fight going against us.

Wood was plentiful enough, and the _chip-chop_ of the axes was heard all
day long, willing hands toiling hard, so that at the end of a week a
strong wooden breastwork was contrived; and this, as the time went by,
was gradually improved, sheds and huts being run up within for shelter
from the dews and rain, and for store-places in case we were besieged.

But the weeks went by, and the Spaniards made no sign, and as far as we
could tell were not likely to. Still the General did not relax his
efforts; outposts and guards did duty; a well was dug inside the fort,
and stores were gathered in, but no enemies came, and their visit began
to seem like a bit of history.

My father and Morgan had walked over with me to the fort every morning,
and there gentlemen toiled beside the ordinary labourers and the slaves;
but no fresh alarm came, and at last we were back at the house
regularly, and time