and ability, to submit to the numberless
indignities of a common soldier's life.

He proceeded to launch the canoe, and had already placed the chest on
board when it occurred to him that the difficulties he had encountered
the previous evening, when his canoe was so nearly lost, arose from his
ignorance of the channels. It would be advisable to ascend the hill, and
carefully survey the coast as far as possible before setting forth. He
did so. The war-ship was still visible from the summit, but while he
looked she was hidden by the intervening islands. The white foam and
angry appearance of the distant open water direct to the eastward,
showed how wise he had been not to attempt its exploration. Under the
land the wind was steady; yonder, where the gale struck the surface with
all its force, the waves were large and powerful.

From this spot he could see nearly the whole length of the strait, and,
gazing up it in the direction he had come, he saw some boats crossing in
the distance. As they moved so slowly, and appeared so broad, he
conjectured that they were flat-bottomed punts, and, straining his eyes,
he fancied he detected horses on board. He watched four cross, and
presently the first punt returned, as if for another freight. He now
noticed that there was a land route by which travellers or waggons came
down from the northward, and crossed the strait by a ferry. It appeared
that the ferry was not in the narrowest part of the strait, but nearer
its western mouth, where the shores were flat, and covered with reeds
and flags. He wondered that he had not seen anything of the
landing-places, or of the ferry-boats, or some sign of this traffic when
he passed, but concluded that the track was hidden among the dense
growth of reed and flag, and that the punts, not being in use that day,
had been drawn up, and perhaps covered with green boughs to shelter them
from the heat of the summer sun.

The fact of this route existing, however, gave additional importance to
the establishment of a fort on the shore of the strait, as he had so
long contemplated. By now, the first punt had obtained another load, and
was re-crossing the channel. It was evident that a caravan of travellers
or merchants had arrived, such persons usually travelling in large
bodies for safety, so that the routes were often deserted for weeks
together, and then suddenly covered with people. Routes, indeed, they
were, and not roads; mere tracks worn through t