the area of the fort, ready to be conveyed to any point where they
might be wanted, and one or two heavy iron guns looked out from
the summits of the advanced angles, as so many admonitions to the
audacious to respect their power.

When Mabel, quitting the convenient, but comparatively retired hut
where her father had been permitted to place her, issued into the
pure air of the morning, she found herself at the foot of a bastion,
which lay invitingly before her, with a promise of giving a _coup
d'oeil_ of all that had been concealed in the darkness of the
preceding night. Tripping up the grassy ascent, the light-hearted
as well as light-footed girl found herself at once on a point where
the sight, at a few varying glances, could take in all the external
novelties of her new situation.

To the southward lay the forest, through which she had been journeying
so many weary days, and which had proved so full of dangers. It was
separated from the stockade by a belt of open land, that had been
principally cleared of its woods to form the martial constructions
around her. This glacis, for such in fact was its military uses,
might have covered a hundred acres; but with it every sign of civilization
ceased. All beyond was forest; that dense, interminable forest
which Mabel could now picture to herself, through her recollections,
with its hidden glassy lakes, its dark rolling stream, and its
world of nature.

Turning from this view, our heroine felt her cheek fanned by a
fresh and grateful breeze, such as she had not experienced since
quitting the far distant coast. Here a new scene presented itself:
although expected, it was not without a start, and a low exclamation