lling the smaller trees, and laying them with
their boughs outward over the crest of the slope, thus forming an abatis
(as every one who has shot in thick cover knows to his cost) warranted
to bring up in two steps, horse, dog, or man. The trunks were sawn into
logs, laid lengthwise, and steadied by stakes and mould; and three or
four hours' hard work finished a stockade which would defy anything
but artillery. The work done, Amyas scrambled up into the boughs of the
enormous ceiba-tree, and there sat inspecting his own handiwork, looking
out far and wide over the forest-covered plains and the blue sea beyond,
and thinking, in his simple straightforward way, of what was to be done
next.

To stay there long was impossible; to avenge himself upon La Guayra was
impossible; to go until he had found out whether Frank was alive or dead
seemed at first equally impossible. But were Brimblecombe, Cary, and
those eighty men to be sacrificed a second time to his private interest?
Amyas wept with rage, and then wept again with earnest, honest prayer,
before he could make up his mind. But he made it up. There were a
hundred chances to one that Frank was dead; and if not, he was equally
past their help; for he was--Amyas knew that too well--by this time
in the hands of the Inquisition. Who could lift him from that pit? Not
Amyas, at least! And crying aloud in his agony, "God help him! for I
cannot!" Amyas made up his mind to move. But whither? Many an hour he
thought and thought alone, there in his airy nest; and at last he went
down, calm and cheerful, and drew Cary and Yeo aside. They could not,
he said, refit the ship without dying of fever during the process; an
assertion which neither of his hearers was bold enough to deny. Even
if they refitted her, they would be pretty certain to have to fight the
Spaniards again; for it was impossible to doubt the Indian's story, that
they had been forewarned of the Rose's coming, or to doubt, either, that
Eustace had been the traitor.

"Let us try St. Jago, then; sack it, come down on La Guayra in the rear,
take a ship there, and so get home."

"Nay, Will. If they have strengthened themselves against us at La
Guayra, where they had little to lose, surely they have done so at St.
Jago, where they have much. I hear the town is large, though new; and
besides, how can we get over these mountains without a guide?"

"Or with one?" said Cary, with a sigh, looking up at the vast walls of
wood an