While he was away, Mr. Hardy and
Hubert were occupied in making a complete exploration of the
property, and in erecting a storehouse for the goods.
In five days Charley returned with the carts he had taken, and with
four others which he had hired at Rosario, bringing the heavy
baggage, which had come in the day after he had arrived there. The
goods were placed for the present in the new store, and then all
hands set to work at the fence. Hans and Terence had already dug
the holes; and the putting in the posts, ramming the earth tightly
round them, and stretching the wires, took them two days.
The usual defense in the outlying settlements against Indians is a
ditch six feet wide and as much deep; but a ditch of this width can
be easily leaped, both by men on horseback and on foot. The ditch,
too, would itself serve as a shelter, as active men could have no
difficulty in getting out of it, and could surround the house by
creeping along the bottom of the ditch, and then openly attack all
round at once, or crawl up unperceived by those who were upon the
watch on the other side.
The fence had none of these disadvantages. It was six feet high.
The wires were placed at six inches apart for four feet from the
bottom, and at nine inches above that.
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