had done here, and so make
myself secure from wild beasts or men; for I concluded, if I stayed where
I was, I should certainly one time or other be buried alive.

With these thoughts, I resolved to remove my tent from the place where it
stood, which was just under the hanging precipice of the hill; and which,
if it should be shaken again, would certainly fall upon my tent; and I
spent the two next days, being the 19th and 20th of April, in contriving
where and how to remove my habitation. The fear of being swallowed up
alive made me that I never slept in quiet; and yet the apprehension of
lying abroad without any fence was almost equal to it; but still, when I
looked about, and saw how everything was put in order, how pleasantly
concealed I was, and how safe from danger, it made me very loath to
remove. In the meantime, it occurred to me that it would require a vast
deal of time for me to do this, and that I must be contented to venture
where I was, till I had formed a camp for myself, and had secured it so
as to remove to it. So with this resolution I composed myself for a
time, and resolved that I would go to work with all speed to build me a
wall with piles and cables, &c., in a circle, as before, and set my tent
up in it when it was finished; but that I would venture to stay where I
was till it was finished, and fit to remove. This was the 21st.

_April_ 22.--The next morning I begin to consider of means to put this
resolve into execution; but I was at a great loss about my tools. I had
three large axes, and abundance of hatchets (for we carried the hatchets
for traffic with the Indians); but with much chopping and cutting knotty
hard wood, they were all full of notches, and dull; and though I had a
grindstone, I could not turn it and grind my tools too. This cost me as
much thought as a statesman would have bestowed upon a grand point of
politics, or a judge upon the life and death of a man. At length I
contrived a wheel with a string, to turn it with my foot, that I might
have both my hands at liberty. _Note_.--I had never seen any such thing
in England, or at least, not to take notice how it was done, though since
I have observed, it is very common there; besides that, my grindstone was
very large and heavy. This machine cost me a full week's work to bring
it to perfection.

_April_ 28, 29.--These two whole days I took up in grinding my tools, my
machine for turning my grindstone performing very well.