ship; these I planted like my cannon, and fitted them into frames,
that held them like a carriage, so that I could fire all the seven guns
in two minutes' time: this wall I was many a weary month in finishing,
and yet never thought myself safe till it was done.

When this was done, I stuck all the ground without my wall, for a great
length every way, as full with stakes, or sticks, of the osier-like
wood, which I found so apt to grow, as they could well stand; insomuch,
that I believe I might set in near twenty thousand of them, leaving a
pretty large space between them and my wall, that I might have room to
see an enemy, and they might have no shelter from the young trees, if
they attempted to approach my outer wall.

Thus, in two years' time, I had a thick grove; and in five or six years'
time I had a wood before my dwelling, growing so monstrous thick and
strong, that it was indeed perfectly impassable; and no men, of what
kind soever, would ever imagine that there was any thing beyond it, much
less a habitation. As for the way which I proposed to myself to go in
and out (for I left no avenue,) it was by setting two ladders, one to a
part of the rock which was low, and then broke in, and left room to
place another ladder upon that; so when the two ladders were taken down,
no man living could come down to me without doing himself mischief; and
if they had come down, they were still on the outside of my outer wall.

Thus I took all the measures human prudence could suggest for my own
preservation; and it will be seen, at length, that they were not
altogether without just reason; though I foresaw nothing at that time
more than my mere fear suggested to me.

While this was doing, I was not altogether careless of my other affairs;
for I had a great concern upon me for my little herd of goats; they were
not only a ready supply to me on every occasion, and began to be
sufficient for me, without the expense of powder and shot, but also
without the fatigue of hunting after the wild ones; and I was loth to
lose the advantage of them, and to have them all to nurse up
over again.

For this purpose, after long consideration, I could think of but two
ways to preserve them: one was, to find another convenient place to dig
a cave under ground, and to drive them into it every night; and the
other was, to enclose two or three little bits of land, remote from one
another, and as much concealed as I could, where I might keep about h