while
the roof was tiled; there was consequently very little danger of the
place being set on fire from the outside, and ourselves burnt out of it.
Its chief weakness consisted in the exceptionally large size of the
door and window openings; but I thought I could see a way to minimise
that evil. While out walking with Don Luis and his wife, I had noticed
a spot that I remarked at the time might be very easily converted into
an excellent sand and gravel pit; while only a few days prior to the
eventful morning when Don Esteban de Mendouca and his party had burst in
upon us with the news of the negro outbreak, Don Luis had received a
large consignment of new sacks destined to receive the crop of coffee,
cocoa, and other products that were at that moment coming forward upon
the estate.

Now, the moment that the question of defending the house was raised,
these sacks and the sand pit came into my mind. The first thing I did,
therefore, was to get hold of the six overseers, instruct them to
organise into gangs the blacks who still remained on the estate: equip
one party of them with pick and shovel; set a second party to bring the
sacks from the store, as required; a third party to fill the sacks with
the gravel and sand as excavated; and the remainder to carry the filled
sacks up to the house on hand-barrows and arrange them in the door and
window openings under my direction. While this was being done, Don Luis
produced his stock of firearms and ammunition; then he, Don Esteban, and
Don Pedro set to work to clean them, oil the locks, and generally put
the weapons in reliable working order; while Don Silvio, aided by his
sister and Dona Inez, lighted a fire in the dining-room and went to work
upon the task of casting bullets for the pistols, it proving upon
examination that only a very small stock of these remained on hand.
And, lastly, while Mama Elisa and Teresita busied themselves in the
detached kitchen, cooking an ample supply of food for the little
garrison, Dona Christina so far laid aside her dignity as to prepare the
dining-room table and set it for breakfast; for day was by this time
breaking, and we had decided that it would be sound policy to snatch a
meal, if possible, before the fight began.

My scheme of defence consisted in blocking up all the door and window
openings throughout the building with a good substantial wall of
sand-bags, leaving here and there small loopholes just wide enough to
admit of a mu