on all sides of the house."

"Then our first care must be to prevent this, MacIntosh, by building
walls along by the fosse from the corner towers to the edge of
the plateau. The distance is very short, not more than eight or
ten yards at the outside. We have, I see, any number of horses
and not a few carts. Let the tenants be set to work at once, and,
going down the road into the ravine below, fill their carts with
blocks of stone and haul them up here. Let active boys be sent out
in all directions as scouts to bring in word when the insurgents
are approaching; and at the same time let twenty well armed men
of the garrison go down with the carts, so as to give confidence
to the tenants and cover their retreat up the road if the insurgents
should suddenly make their appearance. Let some of the men take
billhooks and axes down with them, and cut poles. These must be
sharpened, and as the walls are built, fixed among the stones so as
to make a cheval-de-frise. At the same time let half a dozen stout
ladders be constructed, so that the defenders of these walls may,
if unable to hold them, make their retreat up to the battlements.
I wish now that I had ordered a strong bastion to be thrown up so
as to cover the gate from an attack by artillery, but it did not
seem likely that we should be besieged by any force having guns,
and I let the matter remain until the tenants should be better off
and we could spend our money on such work. However, it is too late
now to think of that. I suppose there is a portcullis to the gate?"

"Yes, and I got it in good working order when I first came here;
but the cannon would speedily shatter that, as well as the bridge
drawn up in front of it and the gate behind it."