A POSSIBLE DANGER. 118

fied, as I thought, from all the world, and consequently slept
secure in the night, which otherwise I could not have done; though,
as it appeared afterwards, there was no need of all this caution from
the. enemies that I apprehended danger from.

Into this fence or fortress, with infinite labour, I carried all my
riches, all my provisions, ammunition, and stores, of which you
have the account above. And I made me a large tent, which, to
preserve me from the rains that in one part of the year are very
violent there, I made double—namely, one smaller tent within, and
one larger tent above it, and cevered the uppermost with a large
tarpaulin which I had saved among the sails.

And now I lay no more for a while in the bed which I had
brought on shore, but in a hammock; which was indeed a very good
one, and belonged to the mate of the ship.

Into this tent I brought all my provisions and everything that
would spoil by the wet; and having thus enclosed all my goods I
made up the entrance, which till now I had left open, and so passed
and repassed, as I said, by a short ladder.

When I had done this, I began to work my way into the rock, -
and bringing all the earth and stones that I dug down out through
my tent, I laid them up within my fence in the nature of a terrace,
that so it raised the ground within about a foot and a half; and
thus I made me a cave just behind my tent, which served me like
a cellar to my house.

It cost me much labour and many days before all these things
were brought to perfection, and therefore I must go back to some
other things which took up some of my thoughts. At the same
time it happened after I had laid my scheme for the setting up my
tent, and making the cave, that a storm of rain falling from a thick
dark cloud, a sudden flash of lightning happened, and after that a
great clap of thunder, as is naturally the effect of it. I was not
so much surprised with the lightning as I was with a thought
which darted into my mind as swift as the lightning itself—Oh,
my powder! My very heart sunk within me when I thought that
at one blast all my powder might be destroyed, on which not my
defence only, but the providing me food, as I thought, entirely
depended. I was nothing near so anxious about my own danger,