230 SECURITY BEFORE COMFORT.

shall not discuss, and perhaps cannot account for—but certainly
they are a proof of the converse of spirits, and the secret communica-
tion between those embodied and those unembodied, and that such
a proof as can never be withstood. Of which I shall have occasion
to give some very remarkable instances in the remainder of my
solitary residence in this dismal place.

I believe the reader of this will not think strange if I confess
that these anxieties, these constant dangers I lived in, and the
concern that was now upon me, put an end to all invention and
to all the contrivances that I had laid for my future accom-
modations and conveniences. I had the care of my safety more
now upon my hands than that of my food. TI cared not to drive a
nail or chop a stick of wood now, for fear the noise I should make
should be heard; much less would I fire a gun, for the same
reason. And, above all, I was intolerably uneasy at making any
fire, lest the smoke, which is visible at a great distance in the day,
should betray me; and for this reason I removed that part of my
business which required fire, such as burning of pots and pipes,
&c., into my new apartment in the woods, where, after I had been
some time, I found to my unspeakable consolation a mere natural
eave in the earth, which went in a vast way, and where, I dare
say, no savage, had he been at the mouth of it, would be so hardy
as to venture in, nor indeed would any man else; but one like me
wanted nothing so much as a safe retreat.

The mouth of this hollow was at the bottom of a great rock,
where, by mere accident (I would say, if I did not see abundant
reason to ascribe all such things now to Providence), I was cutting
down some thick branches of trees to make charcoal. And before
I go on I must observe the reason of my making this charcoal,
which was thus :—

I was afraid of making a smoke about my habitation, as I said
before ; and yet I could not live there without baking my bread,
cooking my meat, Ge. So I contrived to burn some wood here,
as I had seen done in England, under turf, till it became chark,
or dry coal; and then putting the fire out, I preserved the coal
to carry home and perform the other services which fire was want-
ing for at home without danger of smoke.