This spot was one that
overlooked the steepest acclivity of the eminence, which was in itself,
just there, so difficult of ascent, as to render the provision of the
pickets far less necessary than in its more even faces. Still no useful
precaution for the security of the family had been neglected, even at
this strong point of the works. The piles of wood were laid at such a
distance from the pickets as to afford no facilities for scaling them,
while, on the other hand, they formed platforms and breast-works that
might have greatly added to the safety of those who should be required to
defend this portion of the fortress. Taking his way directly amid the
parallel piles, the stranger descended rapidly through the whole of their
mazes, until he had reached the open space between the outer of the
rows and the palisadoes, a space that was warily left too wide to be
passed by the leap of man.
"'Tis many a day since foot of mine has been in this spot," said Eben
Dudley, feeling his way along a path that his companion threaded without
any apparent hesitation.
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