time. We
climbed to the top of it, expecting to find a view of the sea beyond;
but the trees which clothed the base were too lofty to allow us to see
to any great distance. Here and there, however, there was a small gap,
through which we caught a glimpse of the ocean.

"This would make a fine place for a fort, if any of those pirate fellows
come this way," observed Dick Tarbox as I was standing near him. "I
would undertake to fortify it against all comers, if we had a little
time to make ready. I have seen some work of that sort in my younger
days, when I served aboard a man-of-war; and it would require daring
fellows to get inside such a place as we could make it, if we defended
it with the spirit which I know we should. Why, bless you, Walter, the
young ladies and the old Frau would load our muskets for us, and we
might blaze away till we had picked off every Malay who might attempt to
get up the hill."

"But why do you think pirates are likely to come here?" I asked.

"As to that, they are cruising about in these seas, and are as likely to
come here as to any other place, if they think they can get anything by
coming. Your uncle did wisely to build his house in the forest out of
sight, or he would have been carried off long ago; and as they have not
been here for some time, it is the more likely that they will come
soon."

There was a hollow in the centre of the cone which had probably formed
the mouth of the old volcano, if volcano it had been, thus making a rim
or bank all the way round; and on the top of this Tarbox proposed
erecting palisades, and a stage, from which we might fire. By making
hollows in the earth where we might store our goods and provisions, and
where the ladies might remain free from the risk of shot, our fort would
be perfect. My uncle overheard our conversation. "I hope there is
little risk of such an event," he observed carelessly. The wood below
us was so thick, that it seemed scarcely possible we could penetrate it.
However, we were compelled to get there some way or other, or we should
have had to go back the way we had come. While hunting about, we found
what appeared to be the bed of a stream, though perfectly dry. My
uncle, on examining it, said he was sure it led in the direction we
wished to go. After proceeding a little way, we found that it was
entirely free of trees or shrubs. The bottom was covered with stones,
rounded by the once boiling torrent which poured d