them to struggle without his sympathy and aid. For
Home Brownies lose heart and cease to prosper when their Home patrons
and allies forget and neglect them. The Brownies were sore distressed.
What should they do?

Early one morning the Captain and Lieutenant were in close consultation.
The Brownies watched them anxiously as the two slowly walked back and
forth underneath a rose bush in a border near the west window of the
parlor. The point under discussion was this: "Shall we make another
appeal to Governor Wille, or shall we first try an assault upon the new
Pixie fort?"

The decision was soon announced by the bugle call to "fall in." From
every quarter the Brownies crowded eagerly, and the column moved toward
the northwestern corner of the Lawn. There lay a pool formed by a stream
that bubbled from beneath the springhouse at the foot of the hill. The
Brownies called the pool "Loch Katrine," in honor of the lovely and
historic water in their old Scotch home from whose neighborhood they had
come. Just beyond the "outlet," the point at which the Spring Run issues
from the pool and goes singing down the hillside, the new Pixie fort had
been erected. It was called Fort Spinder, and was a sign and token that
Spite and his tribes had gained and meant to keep a foothold upon the
Lawn, the Brownies' special domain.

[Illustration: FIG. 16.--The Demilune, or Crescent Barricade.]

In a brief space the Brownie army had surrounded three sides of the
fort; the fourth side faced the Lake, and was safe from approach of land
troops. Then Captain Bruce sent out a number of scouts to view the Pixie
works and report upon their strength and the best points for attack. Let
us join the Captain and his staff, and listen to these scouts as one
after another they return with their reports. We shall thus learn
something of the Pixies' deft handicraft and cunning ways.

[Illustration: FIG. 17.--The Bell Shaped Turret of Pixie Globosa, of the
Wheel Legion.]

"The first obstacle that I met," said Sightwell, who was the first scout
to report, "was a line of barricades occupied by the Wheel Legion. This
is formed of round webs woven upon grass and weeds, closely joined to
one another and strung in a semicircular form along the whole front of
the fort. Armed pickets are stationed at the open centrals of the
snares. At either end of this crescent or demilune is a large orbweb,
surmounted by a tower. One tower is wrought out of leaves lashed
tog