ough, but I tried
to put a bold face upon it.

'After all,' I said, 'the darkness will be as bad for them as it is for
us.'

'No,' Lancelot said; 'they can steer well enough by the stars. If I
thought that they could get round to the back of the island and fall
upon us that way, I should feel that we were in a very bad case indeed.
But of that I have no fear. There is no place for landing in that part,
and if there were they would find it hard enough to force their way
through the woods. No, no; they will come as they came before.'

I asked him what he thought was the best thing to do. He replied that
the only thing was to keep a very sharp look-out, and to fight hard if
it came to fighting, a pithy sentence, which seemed to me to sum up the
whole art of war--at least, so far as we were concerned who dwelt on
Fair Island. To make assurance doubly sure, however, Lancelot did during
the day place a man by the flag-staff, from which point, as the hill ran
up into a high peak, he would be able to sweep the sea in all
directions. With regard to the night, Lancelot showed me how fortunate
it was that he had brought the fireworks with us, as, at a pinch, in the
darkness, we could get a gleam of light for a minute by firing them.

I was getting so unstrung by all these alarms and watchings that I began
to wish that the pirates would come once for all that we might have done
with them. For I had confidence in our side and the certainty of its
winning which was scarcely logical, maybe, but which, after all, I think
is a great deal better than feeling suspicious of the strength of one's
own side or speculative as to the merits of one's own cause.

How often afterward, in other places and amid perils as great, or
indeed ten times greater, have I remembered that night with all its
agony of expectation!

The main part of our little garrison was ensconced in the stockade and
sleeping, or seeking to sleep, for every man of us knew well enough that
he needed to have all his energies when the struggle came, and that the
more rest he got beforehand the better the fighting trim he would be in
afterward.

We had sentinels posted at different points along that portion of the
coast where landing was possible, and though we had been grateful to it
before for being such an easy place to land upon, we could almost have
wished in our hearts now that it had been less easy of access.

In front of the stockade, but some considerable distanc