They met that day the eleven poor farmers above mentioned,
and killed ten of them. The one who escap'd inform'd that his and
his companions' guns would not go off, the priming being wet with
the rain.
The next day being fair, we continu'd our march, and arriv'd at
the desolated Gnadenhut. There was a saw-mill near, round which were
left several piles of boards, with which we soon hutted ourselves;
an operation the more necessary at that inclement season, as we
had no tents. Our first work was to bury more effectually the dead
we found there, who had been half interr'd by the country people.
The next morning our fort was plann'd and mark'd out, the circumference
measuring four hundred and fifty-five feet, which would require
as many palisades to be made of trees, one with another,
of a foot diameter each. Our axes, of which we had seventy,
were immediately set to work to cut down trees, and, our men
being dextrous in the use of them, great despatch was made.
Seeing the trees fall so fast, I had the curiosity to look at my watch
when two men began to cut at a pine; in six minutes they had it upon
the ground, and I found it of fourteen inches diameter. Each pine
made three palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end.
While these were preparing, our other men dug a trench all round,
of three feet deep, in which the palisades were to be planted;
and, our waggons, the bodys being taken off, and the fore and hind
wheels separated by taking out the pin which united the two parts
of the perch, we had ten carriages, with two horses each, to bring
the palisades from the woods to the spot.
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