first put on shore, and
carried bodily to the path; the rest of the marines and the bluejackets
then landed, each carrying, in addition to his arms and ammunition,
a gun cartridge, or a box of rifle ammunition, and a couple of empty
sacks. As fast as they landed they proceeded up the path. Dick Balderson
led the way, and the men were directed to step as closely as they could
to each other. As they arrived near the pool, each deposited his burden,
and then went back to assist to drag up the guns and carriages.

Scarcely a sound was heard during the operation. Their feet fell
noiselessly on the soft earth of the track, and no one a few yards
away would have guessed that a hundred and fifty men were engaged in
laborious toil. There was far more noise than there had been the night
before on board the prahus, an incessant jabber being maintained, and
voices rang high in excitement as the men discussed the destruction of
the town and the orders that had been received for a portion of them to
land on the following morning and take part in the annihilation of the
whites if they entered into the forest. As soon as the two heavy guns
were placed upon their carriages, just behind the screen of bushes, the
greater portion of the men were sent back as far as the point where
they had landed, there to fill the sacks with earth from the bank of the
river, a number of shovels having been brought for the purpose.

Several large bundles of bamboos, cut into lengths six feet long, and
sharpened at both ends, had been among the articles taken up to the
battery, and while most of the men were engaged filling and carrying the
sacks of earth, some were employed in constructing chevaux de frise, ten
paces on each side of the spot where the battery was being constructed.
The bamboos were set diagonally a foot and a half into the soft earth,
and bound together by being lashed to strong poles running along them.
These fences extended from the edge of the bushes by the water to the
trees. The forest behind was so thick and entangled with creepers that
there was little fear of an attack being made from that quarter.

Accustomed to work in the darkness, the sailors had no difficulty in
carrying out the operation, and before morning broke the battery was
complete. It was six feet high on the side facing the water, with two
embrasures for the guns, four feet high on the sides covered by the
chevaux de frise. The front face was twenty-five feet in leng