into the earth.

The entrance into this place I made to be not by a door, but by a
short ladder to go over the top; which ladder, when I was in, I lifted
over after me, and so I was completely fenced in, and fortified, as I
thought, from all the world, and consequently slept secure in the
night, which otherwise I could not have done; though, as it appeared
afterward, there was no need of all this caution from the enemies that
I apprehended danger from.

Into this fence or fortress, with infinite labor, I carried all my
riches, all my provisions, ammunition, and stores, of which you have
the account above; and I made me a large tent, which, to preserve me
from the rains that in one part of the year are very violent there, I
made double, viz., one smaller tent within, and one larger tent above
it, and covered the uppermost with a large tarpaulin, which I had
saved among the sails. And now I lay no more for a while in the bed
which I had brought on shore, but in a hammock, which was indeed a
very good one, and belonged to the mate of the ship.

Into this tent I brought all my provisions, and everything that would
spoil by the wet; and having thus enclosed all my goods, I made up the
entrance, which, till now, I had left open, and so passed and
repassed, as I said, by a short ladder.

When I had done this, I began to work my way into the rock; and
bringing all the earth and stones that I dug down out through my tent,
I laid them up within my fence in the nature of a terrace, so that it
raised the ground within about a foot and a half; and thus I made me a
cave just behind my tent which served me like a cellar to my house.

It cost me much labor and many days before all these things were
brought to perfection, and therefore I must go back to some other
things which took up some of my thoughts. At the same time it
happened, after I had laid my scheme for the setting up my tent and
making the cave, that a storm of rain falling from a thick dark cloud,
a sudden flash of lightning happened, and after that a great clap of
thunder, as is naturally the effect of it. I was not so much surprised
with the lightning as I was with a thought which darted into my mind
as swift as the lightning itself. Oh, my powder! My very heart sunk
within me when I thought, that at one blast all my powder might be
destroyed, on which, not my defense only, but the providing me food,
as I thought, entirely depended. I was nothing near so anxious ab