ross to stand truly by each other, and fight to defend our rights and
liberties.'

There was really no stockade in the military sense. The enclosure was
little more than a drill-ground fenced with rough slabs. These slabs, a
few logs, and two or three drays, represented all that had been attempted
in the nature of a barricade, and could not have been expected by the
least experienced of the insurgent leaders to offer any serious
impediment to a charge of regulars. Two or three small companies of men
were being drilled within the limited space, and Done and Burton were
attached to one of these and the three Peetrees to another. At this point
Jim was again sadly disillusioned. He was given no weapon but a pike--a
short, not too sharp, blade of iron secured to a pole about five feet
long. Pikes were the only arms the men of his company possessed, and a
blacksmith, who had his smithy within the stockade, was hard at work
manufacturing the primitive weapons. One small company was armed with
rifles, and another with pistols, but ammunition was so scarce that these
could be of no great value in the event of an early attack.

Done estimated that there were about two hundred and fifty men within the
stockade. He heard that there had been many more, but that the volunteers
had returned to their camps on the surrounding fields to make further
preparations, believing that there was no likelihood of an early
encounter. There was much confusion on Eureka, and Jim could not see how
the men were to benefit from the simple drill in which they were being
instructed with great assiduity. The site chosen was an old mining
ground, and the field was broken with holes and piles of dirt, rendering
proper formation impossible; and although the leaders were serious and
earnest men, the bulk of the rank and file preserved a spirit of careless
levity, and were like big boys playing a game.

The rebel leader addressed the men during the afternoon, and Jim listened
to him with deep interest. Peter Lalor was a young Irishman, not yet
thirty-five, not far short of six feet in height, and splendidly
proportioned; keen-eyed, too, with regular features and a resolute,
convincing air. There was a note of domination in the man's character,
and he was certainly the strongest personality in the republican
movement. He pleaded for zeal in the sacred cause for which they might
presently be called upon to shed their hearts' blood, and although his
language wa