Seagrave helped Ready in fixing up the
palisades. They worked very hard that day, and were not sorry to go to
bed. Ready, however, took an opportunity to speak to William.
"I think," said he, "that now we are here again, it will be necessary
to keep a sort of night-watch, in case of accident. I shall not go to
bed till it is quite dark, which it will be by nine o'clock, and shall
have my glass to examine the offing the last thing. You see, there is
little fear of the savages coming here in the night-time, but they may
just before night or very early in the morning, so one of us must be up
again before daybreak, that is between two and three o'clock in the
morning, to see if there is anything to be seen of them; if there is
not, of course we may go to bed again, as they cannot arrive till many
hours afterwards; and we must watch the wind and weather, if it is
favourable for them to come to us, which, indeed, the wind will not be
except at the commencement of the rainy season but it may be very
light, and then they would not care for its being against them. I've
been thinking of it, William, a great deal, and my idea is, that it
will be at the beginning of the rainy season that we shall have a
visit, if we have one at all; for you see that the wind don't blow
regular from one quarter, as it does now, but is variable, and then
they can make sail in their canoes, and come here easily, instead of
pulling between thirty and forty miles, which is hard work against wind
and current.
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